Arnaud De Lie "could have never dreamed" of immense 2022 success after eighth win

Arnaud De Lie has been by far Lotto Soudal's most important rider this season, still a neo-pro but having taken eight wins and keeping the Belgian team's hopes of maintaining World Tour level alive.

Yesterday he rode to victory at the Schaal Sels Merksem, his eighth win of the season - all of them being in one day races. “The team has worked for me the whole day. A mass sprint or a sprint with a smaller group: to us it did not really matter, as long as I got the chance to sprint for the win," De Lie said in a post-race interview. "We kept the breakaway on a short leash. Then Victor Campenaerts did an enormous turn of 3 kilometers. And after that our German sprint train took the lead. In the end, I only had to sprint for the final 150 meters.”

De Lie beat Chris Lawless and Kenneth van Rooy by a comfortable margin, being a level above the competition. The 114-kilometer race features some cobbled sectors in a circuit around Merksem, however several teams worked for a bunch sprint which has provided the team with further sucess.

“Before this season started, I could have never dreamed of this. Both for me as for the team this has been a very good season.”

De Lie will be racing the Egmont Cycling Race tomorrow where he will be once again a major favourite, and the hilly Bretagne Classic which should be a difficult challenge for him. “I can go for a good result there too," however De Lie points out. For me, the season does not need to end any time soon.”