Arnaud De Lie (20) entered the pro peloton like a rocket with 9 victories in his first year. “I’m super motivated for this season,” he laughed during the Lotto-Dstny media day in Spain.
“Yes, there are many expectations for me, but I also cherish them myself. I still want to win a lot. The first goal is a nice classic.”
De Lie adjusts his strategy a bit. “I had a super good form from start to finish in 2022, now I want to be super strong in a short period of time. Especially at targets such as Kuurne and Gent-Wevelgem.”
The sprinter will also soak up the atmosphere in Milan-Sanremo (“For the experience, but on a super day anything is possible”), praises the “impressive team atmosphere” and does not think about a grand tour.
“My body is not 100 percent ready for that yet, but there is also the mental part. I prefer to race for another week like in Paris-Nice. It is better to do a grand tour when I am mentally and physically ready for it. “
Lotto-Dstny has made a clear catch-up movement with a few performance changes, something that Victor Campenaerts (31) himself helped to set in motion.
“I like optimization and the team works fantastically with the University of Ghent. The team also believes in this. They get a lot of confidence and rightly so.”
Has anything actually changed now that the team is no longer a WorldTour? “A lot, but not in a negative sense. You can’t really notice it.”
“We can skip races and that is a luxury, a position that many teams want. We have men who can go uphill well, but things go very fast in the Basque Country. We don’t want to shine there and so we can adjust for that.”
Spring, Lotto-Dstny and Campenaerts obviously don’t fit for that. The former hour record holder has clearly set his sights on the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and sees a next step for himself.
“That is the same step as last year, but what did not work: winning a race in the Flemish spring. The team was satisfied, they were a bit more positive than me.”
“I hope things are a little better now and with the same legs there are possibilities.”
“There are 101 scenarios in such races and they also create opportunities for lesser gods like me. I also have a chance to win.”
Victor Campenaerts is a man with an opinion and also gave it about the two sprint bombs in his team.
“Caleb Ewan was the most disappointed in himself. He is very motivated to prove that he is the fastest man and you can see that in everything.”
“He won’t blame me if I say he wasn’t the most professional and he wasn’t very concerned with details, but he now realizes that’s important.”
“If you freestyle, it often goes well, but sometimes it doesn’t. Last year it went bad. Now he wants to eliminate the coincidences and go all out. I look forward to his resurrection.”
“With Arnaud De Lie, I have the feeling that the team is doing well. He will ride big races, but also small races. They don’t want to put all the pressure on him and they want to keep going step by step.”
“That is the right approach. It is important to slow him down in his enthusiasm. If it depends on him, he will drive all races and train 7 hours every day.”
