In order not to cancel, Vincent Delvosal and his partners have brought forward the deadline to the end of April.
“This is not the ideal date, we have not been able to attract many big teams and this time we will have a smaller field”, comments Laurent Mars, member of the organizing committee. But he received good news: confirmation that Arnaud De Lie will be at the start on Sunday. The participation of the Walloon runner was not guaranteed in recent days. “It's not yet certainStéphane Heulot, the manager of his Lotto Dstny team, explained to us upon arrival from Liège-Bastogne-Liège about Arnaud De Lie, who was in the Nice region, to train there and recognize stages of the Tour de France.
”I also wondered if he would be there, especially since I had sent him a message and he had not responded…continues Laurent Mars. I thought it didn't smell good. But he confirmed to me that he will be there on Sunday. A message also confirmed by the list of entrants sent by Lotto Dstny to the organizer.
For what will be a return home for Arnaud De Lie. In Marche-en-Famenne, on this event organized by the Libramont-Chevigny club (today called Crabbé Dstny) in which Arnaud De Lie did all his classes among the young people before moving up to the hopefuls and the pros. A return home, desired without pressure. The presence at his side, on Sunday, of Maxim Van Gils, in the wake of successful Ardennaises (3rd at Flèche wallonne and 4th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège) will be a good thing to take some pressure off him.
Even if, with his status, obviously, he remains expected around the corner by many supporters. Especially since he will have bib number 1 as the outgoing winner… “It will be the same for his next race, at Plumelecon the Grand Prix du Morbihanadds Laurent Mars, who knows the Taurus of Lescheret well. I'm privileged, I ride with him, when it gets going, once a week. We often talk about everything. And not always by bike. Arnaud, he also needs other things than always discussing watts and training… After Paris-Nice, he really wasn't doing well. I remember that while passing his house at that time, his dad, who was in the tractor, saw me and asked me to stop, to go to the house. We tried to cheer him up. Arnaud didn't understand what was happening to him. He wasn't used to that. It was also not easy for those close to him to see all the negative comments on the networks…”
Arnaud De Lie's crazy victory in the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic
Who are often anything but social…
Before the green light of Lyme disease hits. And relieves him. Allowing him to understand his weakened level, to turn the page on this difficult start to the season. From the first complicated period of his dazzling start to his career. “This will give him an experience, we can learn something positive from everythingfinishes Laurent Mars. For our part, we are happy to see him pin a bib again on our race. For what will be a recovery event for many riders returning from a stop, like Nizzolo and Frison.”
See you on Sunday!
