Tom Boonen criticises Lotto-Intermarché after suffering De Lie abandons Tour: 'It was already a problem'

Arnaud De Lie’s adventure in the Tour de France lasted only three stages. The Belgian rider from Lotto-Intermarché was already sick before the start and tried in vain to power through the first few stages. Lotto-Intermarché's decision to include him in their Tour de France team has drawn heavy criticism from Tom Boonen.

According to the former sprinter, De Lie should never have been selected. “It was already a problem that De Lie came to the Tour de France,” Boonen says on Vive le Vélo. “He should never have been at the start. I don’t know what the team’s reasoning was. ‘Let’s see if things get better,’ maybe? I haven’t often seen a rider improve during the Tour.”

The Bull of Lescheret was already sick before the Tour: he had to cut short the reconnaissance ride for the team time trial. On top of that, it was sweltering in Spain and France. “If you’re already sick in the days leading up to the race, the weather is this hot, and the start is so difficult, just say you’re going home. Or better yet: don’t let him start as part of the team.”

Things played out similarly for De Lie at the Giro d’Italia: he withdrew from the race during Stage 4 after falling ill ahead of the Giro due to cow dung in the Famenne Ardennes Classic. Perhaps his withdrawal in Italy was precisely the reason he didn’t give up on the Tour this time. “Do you think that has made the pressure any less? It actually makes the problem even bigger. If it’s not working out, it’s not working out. Sometimes you just have those years when nothing goes right.”

Boonen hopes that Lotto-Intermarché will now take the time to assess the rider and help him. “It’s wiser to look for the cause than to just keep riding.” Because this is something everyone will remember, too. Whether it’s a physical or mental problem, it doesn’t matter. You can work on a mental problem as well. It can even be resolved faster than a physical problem if you can’t find the cause of the latter.”

Baptiste Veistroffer had been acting as a support rider for the struggling De Lie over the past few days. He helped his teammate cross the finish line in the second stage and the team time trial, and tried to do the same in the grueling third stage. But after a while, it became clear that the former Belgian champion would not make the time limit, forcing the Frenchman to continue on his own.

He did make it to the finish. “It’s mentally very tough to ride as a trio in front of the broom wagon all day,” he told Cyclism’Actu. “Physically, I’m doing fine, but it was a very tough day for Arnaud and for me as well. There were moments on the final climb when it was hard to stay calm, knowing that we’d already exceeded the time limit. I gave it my all for Arnaud. But at some point, you also have to look a little further ahead… and he gave up.”

Veistroffer then rode to 139th place, well within the time limit. His legs were still fairly fresh. “If you looked at how much power I was putting out, it was actually pretty low… on the flats, I really pushed hard. But on the climbs, we had to maintain the same power output, and he struggled to sustain that power consistently to make the time limit.”

The pace change felt strange to the Frenchman. “At one point, I had to make the decision to break away. I was 15 minutes behind the gruppetto. I had to catch up to the group on my own... It was tough. I didn’t give it my all; I could have stayed with him until the end. But I had to stay focused. Tomorrow will be really tough again.”

Now, sprinter Veistroffer still has big ambitions for his Tour de France debut. “I’ve felt physically very strong these past two days. So I hope I can play my cards right now: I still have really strong legs for what I do. I rode 125, 140 km on my own with Arnaud on my wheel and a Tudor rider (Arvid de Kleijn, ed.).”