CONFIRMED: Arnaud De Lie abandons plans of racing Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix

Arnaud De Lie has been having a very difficult start to the season, and is going through the first major setback of his young career. Lotto Dstny have decided to take him out of racing for the time being which means he will not make his debut at the Tour of Flanders.

This is the result of several setbacks during the month of February. Following a different preparation for the spring classics, the 22-year old did an altitude camp at Mount Teide but fell ill whilst there. This hampered his form but he still performed very strongly at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - matching the best during the climbs, and then sprinting to 10th spot at the finish line. A few days later however he crashed at Le Samyn and was very annoyed at the situation.

However the damage was not only mental but also physical. This crash led to minor injuries which hampered him at Paris-Nice where he was nowhere near his best level. After a few days he abandoned the race. Whilst he finished on the Top5 of the Bredene Koksijde Classic and the GP De Denain, the good signs stopped there as it was decided he wouldn't race Milano-Sanremo.

At the E3 Saxo Classic and Gent - Wevelgem De Lie was not at the level he hoped for and finished outside the Top50 in both races. The spring is not working the way the Belgian team hoped for and with his lack of form, he and the team decided to not participate in Dwars door Vlaanderen, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix where he initially set out to be. His comeback does not yet have a date, but he will likely take some rest before starting to prepare for the second half of the season.