Lotto Dstny DS is sure Arnaud De Lie will come back stronger: "If he can cycle again in normal and healthy conditions, the results will follow again"

Lotto Dstny has been in the corner where the blows have fallen in recent weeks. Belgian team's head sports director Kurt Van de Wouwer also realizes this and tries to see the bigger picture in an interview for Sporza.

"The start of the season was very good, with 8 victories," says the sports director. "But as a Belgian team you know that you will also be judged on the Flemish spring and that was much more difficult. We of course knew that in advance with the broken leg for Florian Vermeersch. And if Arnaud De Lie also drops out, you lose your two leaders."

"Lyme disease was one thing, but there was also the fall in Le Samyn and his DNF at Paris-Nice," Van de Wouwer explains. "Because of that accumulation, Arnaud needed a real reset. Now he can calmly build up and the intention is that he can return to competition at the end of April or the beginning of May."

Mentally it has not been an easy period for De Lie, who also seemed to be suffering from pressure. "He has contributed to this a bit by winning so much in recent years, which means that expectations are extremely high. I think that if he can cycle again in normal and healthy conditions, the results will follow again. The class is there, we have no doubt about that."