Arnaud De Lie has laid out his goals for the 2025 season as he and Lotto take aim at promotion back to the WorldTour following relegation from cycling's top division back in 2022.
The Belgian sprinter/Classics man is just 22 but he's the main man on the roster this season, his fourth in the pro ranks. De Lie has already racked up 26 wins in his career, including the Belgian Championships last season and the GP Québec two years ago, and this season he'll be targeting success during the spring Classics.
Speaking to In de Leiderstrui, De Lie laid out his plans for the upcoming spring campaign following a season debut in Spain at the GP Castellon and Clàssica Valenciana.
He said that he's hoping to compete for victories on home ground during the cobbled Classics season, with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad among his main targets having finished second there in 2023.
"I want to compete for the win. So that I can sprint for the win in Gent-Wevelgem, for example," De Lie said. "Whether I'm third or fourth, it doesn't matter, but at least I've competed for the win.
"It's not a matter of having to, but of wanting to. That's a difference. 'Having to' is not a nice phrase, because if you want something, it really comes from within yourself.
"I have already gained two years of experience [at Omloop]. And I really feel that I can win there. I know that I can win a Flemish classic like that, and that in the Belgian tricolour [national champion's jersey]… That would be something special."
De Lie will build up to the Belgian season with starts in Spain, at the Etoile de Bessèges, and Volta ao Algarve while forgoing altitude training in favour of sleeping in an altitude tent at home, he said.
Training camps will still play a part in the build-up to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, while he'll also forgo Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico in preparation for Milan-San Remo and the main cobbled block of races culminating in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
"During that [March] period I will do a training camp with my trainer Gaetan Bille for about ten days," De Lie said. "After that I hope to be in the right shape for Milan-San Remo. I have only ridden that once and I think I still lack experience to win there. Everyone knows that you need experience there.
"A lot has changed in modern cycling . If you see how Mathieu van der Poel rode a very good Milan-San Remo as the first race of the year last year... Van der Poel is of course Van der Poel, but we see that a lot has changed. If you prepare well, you get into the right shape."
De Lie should be in line for another Tour de France start later in the season (he made his debut in 2024, picking up two stage podium spots). In this upcoming season filled with more WorldTour-level racing than he's taken on before, he'll take confidence from one 2024 ride in particular – the GP Québec.
He finished 13th at the race, so not a top result from his campaign, but he did manage to keep up with Tadej Pogačar when the Slovenian launched a stinging attack on the final climb of the race.
The race was a rarity in 2024 in that Pogačar did not end up atop the final podium, but De Lie said he has taken confidence from being one of the few riders who was able to follow an attack from the Slovenian during the course of a season where he proved largely unbeatable.
"Following Pogačar was really special. It may not have been the right choice to follow, but you never know. That moment gives me a lot of confidence, because in almost all other WorldTour races no one could follow him," De Lie said.
"It was a very explosive finale. A Flemish classic is still different from Quebec, but personally that certainly gives confidence."
"As a rider you look for those kinds of moments, but also for the victory. Still, that is a highlight of last season."
