The final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico between Civitanova Marche and San Benedetto del Tronto traditionally offers another opportunity for the sprinters, meaning there were once again chances for Lotto–Intermarché and Arnaud De Lie. One that De Lie was eager to seize, although a puncture threw a spanner in the works. “During the descent before the final climb I felt that I was losing pressure in my rear tyre,” De Lie explained while reflecting on his day. “At first I wanted to wait before changing bikes and thought I had made the right decision, but if you’re not the best climber and you also have a puncture…”
De Lie eventually changed bikes but then had to make up a gap of just over two minutes. Cédric Beullens also suffered mechanical problems at the worst possible moment and was forced to abandon the race early. It was therefore up to Georg Zimmermann and Huub Artz to give everything to bring De Lie back to the peloton. “The team worked really hard and eventually we managed to reconnect, but it cost a lot of energy.”
Despite the bad luck and the long chase, De Lie still managed to sprint to eighth place in San Benedetto del Tronto. “I was completely empty at the finish,” he said. “Then a top-10 result like this isn’t bad at all. I had good legs, on that climb I rode one of my best 20-minute efforts. That’s a feeling I have to take with me into the classics. I came here to suffer and to build race rhythm for the spring, and I succeeded in that.”
Sports director Mario Aerts also looks back with satisfaction on the past week in Italy. “Of course we lost Lennert Van Eetvelt after the opening time trial, which is unfortunate,” Aerts said. “He has already trained again and we expect to see him back at Milan–Sanremo as planned. After he left, we basically had two objectives left: sprint with Arnaud and try to get into the breakaway. We succeeded in that. De Lie took a second place here and today an eighth despite his bad luck. We had Liam Slock in the breakaway and Georg Zimmermann the following day. Jenno Berckmoes has been very strong. I’ve seen a very good team over the past week and that is promising for what’s to come.”
Picture: PhotoNews
