Arnaud de Lie: "That I can finish it in this way makes it even more beautiful"

Lotto Soudal have a new gem in their squad, and today Arnaud de Lie has shown another talent to his spectrum by winning the hilly Volta Limburg Classic after a brilliant climbing performance.

“The snowfall, cold and many altitude metres made it a tough day out but with a strong team at the start we targeted the victory today. The team did another tremendous job today. Before the race, me and Andreas Kron were indicated as leaders so we made our plan for that. Thomas De Gendt did a great job at the front of the bunch and also Roger Kluge, Rüdiger Selig and Michael Schwarzmann made sure we didn’t waste any energy. With Philippe Gilbert, we also had a good road captain who knew the roads by heart," De Lie said in a post-race interview. After having won the Trofeo Playa de Palma and the GP Jean-Pierre Monseré, De Lie had shown himself to the World Tour peloton as an upcoming and potential top sprinter in the coming years. However, after a string of consistent results over the sprint, the young Belgian has shown today to be able to climb very well too, as he resisted the over 3000 meters of climbing in freezing conditions to be within contention of going for the race win.

From the leading group of six that went over the hills and into Eijsden, de Lie was the strongest sprinter however the cobbled uphill dash for the line gave room for his rivals to take the opportunity. He took a strong win though with time to celebrate.

“The four climbs of the Gulperberg was a crucial part of the race today. Maybe you couldn’t win the race there but certainly lose it. In the final we were still well-positioned with me, Andreas and Philippe. Normally, it wasn’t immediately the plan that I would go clear with a small group but we changed tactics a bit. That way we took off with the six of us and I did everything I could to make it a sprint in the end. That I can finish it in this way makes it even more beautiful," he concluded.

De Lie will be back to competition next week at the Scheldeprijs where he will be back to his natural environment, the flat roads, where he will be leading the team in search of another win.