"I'm impatient" - Arnaud de Lie talks emotions, expectations and weight of being 'man to beat' at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Arnaud De Lie has over the last 12 months stormed through the peloton. Today he starts as the main favourite for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the minds of many.

"I'm impatient. I already rode in Kuurne last year, but the Omloop is something new. It is also the first Flemish WorldTour classic of the year, which gives a lot of motivation," De Lie said in a pre-race press conference, where he's termed as a big favourite. "But I experience that positively. That Tom Boonen puts me forward? That makes me proud, because he is one of the greatest classical specialists," he admits.

A sprinter by nature, the Belgian has proved to have the speed against some of the fastest in the world and the headwind into Ninove this afternoon will favour such scenario. There will be other riders in the same situation as him and a possible alliance between sprinter teams could help keep the race somewhat glued together.

"I see other favorites such as Philipsen, Benoot or Wellens. I don't mind that others assign me the favorite role. It creates some pressure, but that doesn't affect me," he states confidently. "There are teams such as UAE, Jumbo-Visma or Soudal-Quick Step, which are not talked about much, but who will be there. They are strong blocks. There is more than just us."

De Lie's favoritism doesn't just come from his sprinting abilities, but his ability to ride short efforts. Winner of several race already this year, he's proven on more than one occasion to be able to push massive gears uphill, with victories at the Clàsica Valenciana and Etoile de Bessèges proving just that. He wasn't initially set to ride Omloop, but the team felt it was the right choice alongside the 20-year old.

"But the condition is really good, so I decided together with the team to ride the Omloop. I won in Valencia and also felt very good in Marseille and Bessèges, only after that did we start asking ourselves whether we could would not include circulation," he continued. "If I sat in front of my TV on Saturday and saw that it would be a sprint with about fifty riders, I would have regretted it a lot. But I'm there now and everything that comes is just a bonus."

The ascents to the Muur de Geraardsbergen and Bosberg will be complicated, but he should under normal circumstances be able to survive relatively well. "I don't know the course very well, but I have explored it well and a lot of information from the team. In 2019 I already rode the Tour of Flanders with the juniors. That was already tough then, and on Saturday there will be another hundred kilometers," he added. 

"But those efforts on the climbers of one and a half minutes to three minutes suit me. In the final, the head will be more decisive than the legs. That plays to my advantage." He will lead Lotto Dstny who has the likes of Florian Vermeersch and Victor Campenaerts as outsiders.

The Belgian duo can serve of great support for the De Lie, however he himself would not be disappointed with a victory from someone else within Lotto: "If Victor wins the race, that's a good result. If I win too. I just want to be proud of my performance and be able to say afterwards that I gave everything," he concluded.