"The recovery didn't go as smoothly as normal": Lotto DS disappointed that Arnaud De Lie's had to abandon the Giro

Arnaud De Lie's stint at the 2026 Giro d'Italia was brief, but left an impact in its own way. The Belgian rose the ranks to become one of the anticipated names for bunch sprints again following a Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic, but his ambitions were cut short due to an illness he had contracted at the same race which put his name back into spotlight following a mediocre spring.

On social media, the medical staff of Lotto-Intermarché received considerable criticism for allowing De Lie to start at all, but according to the team's sports director Kurt Van de Wouwer, that is unjustified:

"De Lie was already in Bulgaria when he fell ill. He really wanted to start himself as well. We had hoped that he could gradually recover during the Bulgaria stages and that he could do something afterwards, but that did not happen," he told WielerFlits.

So, the Belgian team was quickly down to five men in the first week of the Giro as ill riders from Famenne Ardenne Classic - Arnaud De Lie and Milan Menten - both abandoned and the replacement for third sickly man (Liam Slock), Joshua Giddings who's been called in at a last minute, was victim to one of the many crashes in first week and stepped away from his bicycle on fifth stage.

Back to De Lie, despite his poor health state, the Belgian at the very least participated in the first sprint in Burgas. But after that, things got worse day after day.

"The recovery simply didn't go as smoothly as normal. In hindsight, it is easy to see that he didn't make it back, but you can't possibly foresee that. In other cases, you recover day by day. In principle, the racing during those three days in Bulgaria wasn't super hard either. If he could have survived that, it would have been perfect."

Ultimately, De Lie withdrew from the Giro during the fourth stage, completely drained. According to Van de Wouwer, this was because there really was no other option. "He had to go home," said the sports manager. "The illness lingered for a few more days there. But fortunately, he now has enough time to recover in preparation for his next goals. We shouldn't rush anything."

There was no point in extending De Lie's suffering with another bigger appointment further this summer with a Tour de France rematch. "Last year, too, he reached his best level of the entire season during that period," reassures Van de Wouwer. "We are convinced that we will see De Lie back at his best level and that we can still make something of this season together."

The Ethias-Tour de Wallonie is now the closest race on De Lie's schedule at the start of June, Van de Wouwer is confident we'll see the Walloon back at his best at the home race: "That is still just under two weeks away, so in principle that should work out," he reassured.