“We hope to win the race with Arnaud” - Lotto Dstny sports director Nikolas Maes on Arnaud De Lie’s chances at Le Samyn

After an impressive showing at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad over the weekend, where he powered up the Muur van Geraardsbergen with Wout van Aert in his wheel and eventually finished tenth after a day in the breakaway, Arnaud De Lie is now focusing on his next race at Le Samyn.

The young Belgian opted to skip Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne on Sunday, which confused many, as it is a race that suits him on paper. However, De Lie is fully concentrating on winning Le Samyn, as he continues his build-up towards Paris-Nice and the rest of the Spring Classics in March.

Lotto Dstny are bringing a strong team to this year’s race, with their lineup including last year’s winner Milan Menten. However, it will be De Lie that leads the Belgian outfit at the midweek semi-classic. They will be joined by Pascal Eenkhoorn, Alec Segaert, Lionel Taminiaux, Jarrad Drizners and youngster Joshua Giddings, who rides for the Lotto Dstny Development Team and won at Brussel-Opwijk on Sunday.

Ahead of the race, the team’s sports director Nikolas Maes stated in an interview with WielerFlits that “to say that we have to win there is putting it too strongly. That is dangerous. But we hope to win the race with Arnaud. We are going to do our best”.