"The passion wasn’t there anymore – At this level, that’s deadly" - Arnaud De Lie brutally honest about struggles for form before recent Renewi Tour resurgence

For a rider known as 'The Bull', Arnaud De Lie looked a shadow of himself throughout the spring in 2025. Wearing the striking tricolour of the Belgian national champion, he struggled not just to win — but to compete. At one point, the 23-year-old sprinter was being shelled out of the back in races where he once thrived. The physical symptoms were vague, the results underwhelming, but the problem ran deeper than form.

“The passion wasn’t there anymore,” De Lie has now admitted, speaking candidly in a recent interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. “And at this level, that’s deadly.”

It’s an unusually frank admission from one of Belgian cycling’s brightest talents. The early season had started promisingly enough, with a stage win in the Étoile de Bessèges and strong placings in the Algarve and Almería. But by late February, alarm bells were ringing. Dropped brutally in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and a DNF in Gent Wevelgem, Lotto made the call: pull De Lie out of competition and hit reset. “I got sick over the winter. Nothing serious in itself, but after that… something just broke," he explains. "Training felt like a chore. I was still doing the hours, still sticking to the zones. But the joy was gone. I felt miserable.”

This wasn’t burnout in the usual sense — De Lie hadn’t raced too much or overtrained. Instead, it was a kind of psychological flatline: the reason to ride had blurred, and with it, the desire.

The turnaround began quietly, before the results ever showed it. A third place at the Brussels Cycling Classic in May served as an emotional pivot point. “That’s when I felt the spark again. I could enjoy it. That result meant more to me than just a podium.”

The transformation wasn’t purely about performance. It came from shifting how he approached the sport. “I don’t have to train — I get to ride my bike,” he reflects. “During that rough patch, every morning felt like a fight. Now, I make sure my long rides have something special — a route that inspires me. A nice church, a new landscape — small things, but they help.”

He’s also introduced more variation: gravel rides, mountain biking, training with friends. “It gives me breathing room.”

Fast-forward to late August, and De Lie is once again the rider fans expect him to be. His overall win at the Renewi Tour — including holding off none other than Mathieu van der Poel on the Muur van Geraardsbergen — was emphatic confirmation that The Bull is back.

“I felt like I’d returned to my level,” he said. “Last year around this time, I felt like I’d taken a step forward. I’ve got that feeling again now.”

The physical signs are positive — the legs are back — but it’s the mindset that’s made the real difference. That renewed outlook is something he’ll carry into the remainder of the season, beginning with this weekend’s Bretagne Classic, followed by the Canadian races in Québec and Montréal, where he's won in the past.

Off the bike, uncertainty looms as Lotto looks increasingly likely to merge with Intermarché–Wanty. It’s a shift that could unsettle even the most seasoned professionals, but De Lie remains impressively pragmatic.

“I know very little about it. The media probably know more than I do. I’ve got a contract until the end of 2026, and I plan to see it through. I don’t have control over any of it — just like I can’t control the weather. What matters is how I respond.”

At just 23, Arnaud De Lie has already learned one of pro cycling’s hardest lessons: power alone won’t get you anywhere if your heart’s not in it. His spring collapse wasn’t mechanical — it was mental. And in being open about that, he’s not only shown vulnerability, but maturity.

He’s back to winning. But more importantly, he’s back to enjoying it — and in a sport that demands so much, that might be his most important result yet.