Lotto-Intermarché sports director provides update on De Lie, who was absent from the Giro presentation

The Giro d'Italia has not yet started, but there is already a significant twist. Lotto-Intermarché arrived at Wednesday's team presentation in Bulgaria with only five riders. Sprint leader Arnaud De Lie was not among them. What is going on? Sports director Maxime Bouet provided answers.

"He is here, but he is not here," the Frenchman says with a laugh about De Lie in an interview with CyclingProNet. The reason? "There was a problem at the Famenne Ardenne Classic, where a lot of riders fell ill. We have had quite a few riders in hospital." That story had been slowly filtering out around the time of the team presentation.

The obvious question: how is De Lie, and where is he? "Arnaud is here in Bulgaria, at the hotel. We hope he will recover quickly. We have heard that several teams have been affected and that some have had entire squads in hospital," Bouet explains.

It appears, for now, to be a matter of rest and cautious optimism. "With Arnaud, we have opted for some rest because he is still a bit weak. We do not want him making other riders — or even other teams — ill. The priority is the health of the riders."

"The health of our riders is the absolute priority," the former professional repeats. "That is why we quickly replaced Liam Slock with Joshua Giddings. Milan [Menten] was also at the Famenne Classic and had symptoms too, but he is already much better. He will arrive in Bulgaria this evening [Wednesday evening]."

Bouet is aware that Lotto-Intermarché are not the only team affected. "I know other teams have had the same issue. It is digestive problems — diarrhoea and vomiting. Our riders went to hospital because as soon as they stood up, they felt nauseous and could not stay on their feet. So we told them to go to hospital immediately. I heard it was the same at other teams."

The sports director is not willing to let it derail their Giro, however. "We have to stay positive. If we weren't, we could have gone back to Belgium tomorrow — and then what's the point? We don't only have Arnaud in the squad. We have eight highly motivated riders, and eight riders who can compete for stage wins. Illness is part of a Grand Tour. We have it now; other teams might get it in two, three, four days. We want to win one or more stages, and we are staying focused on that."