Gutted De Lie bows out of the Giro after four painful stages: ''The stomach still isn't right'

Poor, poor Arnaud De Lie. The Lotto-Intermarché Belgian arrived at the Giro d'Italia as the team's sprint leader for the opening days, with stage wins — and possibly the pink jersey — as the big target. He came nowhere near either: illness derailed everything. A rest day should have helped him recover, but he was still struggling with his health. Unable to complete stage 4, he threw in the towel.

De Lie had missed the team presentation in Bulgaria after falling ill. The suspected culprit? Cattle manure sprayed up from the road at the Famenne Ardennes Classic — a race the former Belgian champion had just won. After that victory, everything went downhill. Teammate Milan Menten was also suffering badly. Stage one, where De Lie could have sprinted for the pink jersey, was a washout before it began.

The days that followed became about survival. The Bull of Lescheret — as the 23-year-old is known in Belgium — had to let the group go on every half-decent climb. That he stayed in the race at all was remarkable in itself. But the rest day had not had the hoped-for effect. "It was a bit of a gamble to start today," De Lie told Eurosport before stage four. "The first three days in Bulgaria weren't great. I'm hoping for a better day today — but the stomach still isn't right, and the feeling isn't either. We'll see."

It was clear the young sprinter was still nowhere near recovered. All he could do was hope that something would improve as he started stage 4. "I'm going to try, but I'm not sure I'm better yet. It's hard to be optimistic, because I was really, really sick. Milan too. You know that when you show up here at eighty percent, with a bacterial infection, that it's not ideal."

All ambitions had been quietly shelved. De Lie's sole focus was getting to the finish line. "The first three stages weren't super demanding, but we also had to travel. We'll see how it goes today. Doing something will be difficult, but getting to the finish is possible. That's my goal today." Whether he would make it even that far was in doubt — he had already indicated he would be leaving the race early to race at the Ronde van Wallonië. Even with a helping hand from ex-teammate Victor Campenaerts, watching de Lie struggle was painful.

After a hundred kilometres into stage 4, the answer came. De Lie was dropped on the Cozzo Tunno and quickly fell to the back of the race. What followed was inevitable: the Belgian sprinter climbed off his bike — his Giro d'Italia over after less than four stages.