Arnaud De Lie will be sidelined for at least a month with the Lyme disease: "The end of April could be a realistic target for his return"

Arnaud De Lie could return to racing in about a month. After revealing that their leader tested positive for Lyme disease, Lotto Dstny had to bench De Lie despite some doubts, given that it is not uncommon to hear about a very long recovery period needed to recover from this disease.

"We have to put the severity of the disease into perspective, there are different stages of the disease and this seems to be the primary stage," explains team manager Stéphane Heulot to RTBF. "It is difficult to say if it is something recent, because you can be positive for lifetime. The doctors completely reassured us. Arnaud wasn't affected that much."

The Belgian team, however, still can't point to an exact to date of the return of their star, who had to miss out on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. "The end of April could be a realistic target for his return, which we hope will take place in the best possible conditions," concludes Heulot.