Serious doubts about form and training of Arnaud De Lie: "A ride of 7 hours and 5000 meters of altitude gain is more suitable as training for Alpine stage"

He couldn't seem to catch a break in the Spanish opening races: Arnaud De Lie of Lotto-Dstny. The Belgian sprinter was high on the favorites lists but had to withdraw due to bad luck or was simply dropped early in the races in Murcia, Almeria, and Jaén. Doubt now looms in Belgium. The opening races are coming up next weekend, and normally De Lie is one of the favorites there. "But now I don't know," says former pro Stijn Steels.

On behalf of Het Nieuwsblad , the 34-year-old Steels analyzes, among other things, the preparations of riders for the season's big goals. Thus, he also scrutinized De Lie closely. Steels observed his young compatriot undergoing altitude training ahead of the first races of the season and now doubts whether that was the best choice. "I dare say he took a risk by opting for altitude training."

Steels saw De Lie training for "Alpine stages" and not for Kuurne and Het Nieuwsblad

"I had no doubts in January about who was the top favorite for the Omloop: Arnaud De Lie. But judging from the results in the Spanish races, I would say he took a risk with the altitude training he did. High altitude training is tricky. You can return with golden legs, but one mistake can leave you in misery. It requires careful adjustment and a very gradual buildup. For a young 'bull' like De Lie, this isn't obvious. The danger is that you still want to push yourself to the limit."

And it was precisely that 'going flat out' that Steels noticed in De Lie's training regimen. "To be clear: I assume that the trainers at Lotto-Dstny know what they're doing, but I observed that he sometimes trained for seven hours and tackled 5000 altimeters. Honestly, that's more akin to training for an Alpine stage in the Tour than for the Omloop. Just four days before he had to race in Spain, he completed another grueling training session. Despite this, he performed well in Murcia. Let's hope he takes some rest now because a De Lie at 100% is a joy to watch."