ProTeam Arnaud De Lie sprints to second place in stage three of Tirreno-Adriatico

Lotto–Intermarché saw a particularly long day– the riders had to cover no less than 221 kilometres between Cortona and Magliano de’ Marsi– rewarded with a fine second place for Arnaud De Lie. The result came after excellent positioning work from Huub Artz in a hectic sprint. “We expected the sprint to unfold like that,” De Lie explained. “Nothing really happened during the race. It was quite straightforward– eat, drink and save as much energy as possible– until the final 20 kilometres. In other words: everyone was still fresh.”

In the end, De Lie had to acknowledge Andresen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) as the stronger rider, but he finished ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). “Of course it’s a pity. With 600 metres to go I just missed that little bit of energy needed to win. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Today I learned that the strongest rider won. And that can always be someone else. Of course I came here to win, but this is Tirreno-Adriatico, not a small race. So I can be happy with this second place. It’s good for me, for the team and for the confidence.”

Picture: PhotoNews