Blow for Lotto-Intermarché as De Lie ruled out of Tour of Flanders through illness

De Lie has had an inconsistent spring so far. He finished second on stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico and fourth in In Flanders Fields, but beyond that the campaign has not really taken off. It was especially disappointing in Dwars door Vlaanderen, where the Bull of Lescheret was dropped very early and then climbed off. The reason turned out to be illness.

That is still troubling him now. As a result, Lotto-Intermarché confirmed that De Lie will not race the Tour of Flanders. The team said in its statement on X: “Arnaud De Lie will not race Tour of Flanders. He was forced to abandon Dwars door Vlaanderen last Wednesday due to illness. Although he did recon of the course this morning together with his coach, it became clear to Arnaud that he has not recovered sufficiently to compete at full strength in such a demanding race of 278 kilometres as the Tour of Flanders.”

The team remains hopeful that De Lie will be able to start Paris-Roubaix next weekend. Lotto-Intermarché added: “Arnaud is being closely monitored by the medical staff and performance coaches to ensure he can prepare as well as possible for Paris-Roubaix and be fully fit for that goal. We wish him a speedy recovery.”

So no De Lie for Sunday, but who will line up for Lotto-Intermarché instead? Much of the pressure will now fall on Jenno Berckmoes. He was 11th in Milan-Sanremo, 13th in the E3 Saxo Classic and 11th in In Flanders Fields. He crashed in Dwars door Vlaanderen, but he is fit enough to take his place in the team. He will be joined by Jonas Rutsch, Luca Van Boven, Sébastien Grignard, Cedric Beullens, Vito Braet and Toon Aerts.