"If I have to choose, I'd take the Champs-Élysées" - Arnaud De Lie not overly excited about possibility to wear yellow at the Tour de France
Cycling
Up and down year for Walloon sprint and classics rising star Arnaud De Lie but at the end, it was not a wasted season. The Lotto Dstny rider became National champion and had the chance to get first-hand experience of sprints at Tour de France. The Grand Tour will naturally be his main objective also for 2025.
“It's a big goal to be in Paris and to sprint for the victory,” De Lie told Cyclingnews at the recent Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium in November.
“So yeah, that will be there next year and it's also a good parcours for me, with a lot of a lot of opportunities. And also during the sprints I think I took a lot of experience from this year. I think it's really possible to win one stage, and for sure, next year I will go for that, go for a win, but it's not so easy.”
Of course there will also be plenty of motivation on offer in 2025. “For sure, if it's possible to be on the podium it's already really, really good for me, but to take a victory, it's I think the broadest goal of my life, to win in the Tour de France.”
The 2025 Tour de France will, compared to last year's brutal Grand Départs, have a rather easier start at the North of France. The opening stage in Lille will be a chance for the fastest sprinter to wear yellow at Grande Boucle for the first time in years: “It's very rare that the first stage is a sprint,” noted De Lie.
However for De Lie, the ultimate goal awaits at the end of third week of Tour de France. In Paris. That victory on Champs-Élysées is something De Lie would clearly prefer to tell stories about: “It's always chaotic, so we will see what happens in that first stage but I think to win on the Champs-Élysées is bigger. It is very special to win in Paris so I think if I have to choose, for sure, I'd take the Champs-Élysées.”
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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