Arnaud De Lie is known for saying what he thinks and in Friday’s pre-Omloop Het Nieuwsblad press convention, he made no secret of his need to nail down a serious triumph as quickly as he can within the 2025 Spring Classics season.
A second place end within the 2023 version of Omloop – his first-ever participation – was a serious assertion by the Belgian star, notably provided that he had crashed late on. Then, after a relatively disappointing tenth place in 2024, the proficient Walloon racer is set to provide his rivals a run for his or her cash on Saturday.
“Each time I’ve taken half on this race, I’ve felt nice,” De Lie advised reporters on Friday, “I am impatient to place a race quantity on my again in a Flemish race carrying my good Belgian Nationwide Champion’s jersey.”
De Lie agreed with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), who additionally gave a press convention Friday, that the 2025 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad route is harder than in earlier editions. Just like the British racer, De Lie highlighted the reintroduction of the Eikenberg climb at 56 kilometres from the end in a completely recobbled format, one thing that “adjustments all the pieces” within the race.
“Earlier than there have been some components of the climb that had been tarmacked and you could possibly use these to stand up it however now it is all pavé. And that makes issues tougher. Anyone who’s in fiftieth place or additional again may lose the race,” De Lie mentioned.
“Then there’s the descent to the Wolvenberg and if a crew desires to tear issues up there, it may create some large gaps. The finale is not so completely different, however the stretches of simpler highway for restoration are shorter than they was.”
De Lie was a DNS within the Volta ao Algarve on the final day due to allergic reactions, however he mentioned on Friday that up till that time within the Portuguese race he had been feeling higher and higher and on stage 4, he had been in a position “to place down a very nice dash.” His higher situation was due partially, he mentioned, to his very completely different winter build-up.
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“My preparation has modified lots, and the very fact [that because of those changes] I may experience in Bessèges, Almeria and Algarve is one thing I favored lots. I bought quite a lot of pleasure out of racing. I desire that than to be sat on high of a volcano” – a reference to the Teide volcano within the Canary Islands, the place riders usually do altitude coaching – “watching bike races on TV that I would wish to have ridden. So I really feel good, bodily and mentally.”
Nevertheless, the true proof of his technique will come on Saturday within the remaining kilometres of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. “If I win, my spring will have already got been a convincing success,” he advised reporters.
“However you get hungry via consuming and if I handle to boost my arms on the end line, I feel that’ll give me an infinite enhance, and I can be eager to do even higher in what comes afterwards.”
To take action on Saturday, after all, De Lie should deal with and beat his rivals in a race which he insisted was notoriously unpredictable, stating that even the strongest of breakaways like Dylan van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike) in 2023 was barely in a position to fend off the peloton. This yr Van Baarle will not be racing, however De Lie mentioned Visma stay one of the highly effective squads, and never simply due to their chief and former Omloop winner Wout Van Aert.
“Globally they’re very spectacular,” De Lie mentioned. “I spent per week within the Algarve racing subsequent to Van Aert and I may see he was in nice kind. His time trial” – the place he took second behind teammate Jonas Vingegaard – “is the proof.”
“As for UAE [Team Emirates-XRG], they have been up there within the thick of it for the reason that begin of the season. These two groups [Visma and UAE often make the right strategic decisions and you have to be really sharp to be able to beat them.”
“But we’ve got a 100% Belgian team and we’re really united. I hope we’ll be up to meeting the challenge.”
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