"You only win races if you also have that mental confidence" - Lotto Dstny DS looks beyond Arnaud De Lie's failed spring

Arnaud De Lie entered the spring classics with big ambitons, which turned into a big burden after the Belgian was not able to live up to his own expectations. But it seems a short break was all he needed to find his ideal mindset and get back to winning ways.

"Arnaud needed a kind of 'reset'," Lotto Dstny sports director Nikolas Maes explains to WielerFlits. "But don't think that he has been sitting still for a full month after Gent-Wevelgem. In total he did not train for about two and a half weeks. It was the mindset that had to change a bit. Arnaud undeniably has talent, we all know that. But that mental click also had to happen, the frustrations had to go away for a while. And that reset and the last competition block were ideal for that."

In his last six races over the past month, De Lie started to deliver again with three victories and no worse result than fourth. "That shows that he is racing with confidence again. Trust is related to performance. After Gent-Wevelgem, Arnaud was able to take his time to train properly and was declared completely recovered."

"We can see from his values ​​that things are going well and that confidence is gradually returning. The latter must really be present in him. Whether it's a sprint in the GP Québec or the Circuit de Wallonie, if he achieves his values ​​​​in the sprint, then he is fine. But you only win races if you also have that mental confidence."

Although Maes is convinced that De Lie has not yet reached his limit. "He is still in a training phase. Normally, he should still be able to improve. He is fine and is competing for prizes again, but it is also a certain level of races that he is now riding," Maes refers to the 1.1 and 1.Pro character of the one-day races De Lie completed recently.

"But those are details, right? If Arnaud is in good condition, he will compete for prizes again at the highest level. We all know now that he has that in him and that will come back soon." De Lie will have a chance to 'prove it' already this weekend at Critérium du Dauphiné where he'll match up against the likes of Mads Pedersen for the two sprint opportunities the race will offer.