"For heaven's sake, figure out what’s going on with the guy instead of burning him out" - Thijs Zonneveld heavily critical over Lotto's handling of Arnaud De Lie

Arnaud De Lie hasn't enjoyed the most fruitful few weeks of his career lately. The Belgian national champion has been seen consistently struggling in races where he'd normally be among the favourites for victory. According to ex-pro turned expert Thijs Zonneveld, a lot of this has to do with some very poor management of the 23-year-old by Lotto bosses.

"He cancelled Milano-Sanremo, and what do they do at the team? They put him in Nokere Koerse and then another race. It’s no surprise he pulled out of Milano-Sanremo... You can clearly see that he's not in good form," begins Zonneveld's analysis for the In Het Wiel podcast. "He’s on board mentally. He was in the mix, but then he just gets dropped. That happened again in Nokere Koerse on a cobbled section. He was well-positioned, in the wheel of someone he should always be able to keep up with given his talent and strength."

Rather than just running De Lie into the ground with endless racing, even when it bad form, Zonneveld urges Lotto to try and find a solution to the problem of the Belgian's worrying recent results. "You can have him race all you want, but for heaven's sake, figure out what’s going on with the guy instead of burning him out," pleads the analyst.

"This is exactly what they did last year," Zonneveld adds, indicating Lotto are not learning their lesson. "Made him race way too much for such a young guy, always putting too much pressure on him. You have to do this, you have to do that. You’re the leader here, you’re the leader there."

"They will undoubtedly need points, and he’ll definitely make them a lot of money, but it’s such short-term thinking," he concludes. "He’s going to leave soon, and then in an interview, he’ll say how terrible it was. You can see that coming. Right now, he has to keep quiet, but it’s inevitable. I think it’s a shame to see."