"I don’t think I have ever felt this bad" - Arnaud de Lie struggles his way through Giro d'Italia's opening weekend

The opening weekend of the Giro d'Italia saw Lennert van Eetvelt put on a stellar performance at the Giro d'Italia but on the other side of the spectrum was the team's other leader Arnaud de Lie. Still suffering from illness, the Belgian sprinter suffered his way through the climbs on the first days of the race.

“I felt myself getting worse. I don’t think I have ever felt this bad," De Lie said following the end of stage 3. This Sunday, he was the only rider getting dropped on the Borovec Pass, and was aided by two teammates at the time. Eventually, he managed to find his way back into the peloton, but in the final kilometers he struggled to be in contention for the stage and ended up crossing the finish line in 47th place. On stage 1 he was out of the run after the mass crash that cut the peloton inside the final kilometer.

Ultimately, there is no result to show for in the opening weekend of the race for De Lie. He suffered an ankle injury back in January which delayed the course of his spring; but an illness contracted at the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic - where the riders had cow manure and tractor tracks on wet roads - is the reason behind his most recent difficulties.

Although that has not been fully confirmed: “That is a hypothesis, but not a certainty," team doctor Gerard Ackerl shared in words to Domestique. "It is clear that they contracted gastroenteritis. Recovering from that takes a huge toll on the body".

There were several Lotto riders affected from that race, the Sunday prior to the Grande Partenza. The Belgian team had to replace Liam Slock in its lineup because of it, whilst De Lie started the race, but far from his best level. The illness is still hampering him. "Difficult to predict, because we do not know the exact cause. So we do not know with certainty what caused the acute attack.”

De Lie initially already hinted at participating only in the first week of the Giro, so as to then recover for future goals; however his current state of form puts into question his participation. The team will hope that this Monday's rest day will see an improvement in his health, but it will not be easy to recover in time to potentially win a stage before withdrawing from the race.

“Moreover, every body reacts differently. Will Milan [Menten] recover faster because he got sick sooner? We cannot say. We only know that they will get better," Ackerl cocnludes. "The most important measure we have taken is that we have put them in the same room together.”