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Arnaud De Lie’s victory on the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec was a very long time within the making. As an eight-year-old, in any case, he had stayed up gone his bedtime to look at his fellow Walloon Philippe Gilbert win the second version of the race in 2011.
That reminiscence was nonetheless with him when he sat down with Lotto-Dstny administration to plan his season final winter. The staff wasn’t assured a trip following their relegation from the WorldTour, however De Lie indicated his want to make the trek throughout the Atlantic in September and so a wildcard invitation was procured.
In the long run, the Canadian expedition was greater than justified. After clocking up sixteen wins throughout his first two skilled seasons, De Lie has now claimed his maiden victory at WorldTour degree by bounding up Québec’s Grande Allée and powering previous Corbin Robust (Israel Premier Tech) and Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula) close by of the road.
“To win in Québec at 21 years of age, it’s unimaginable, as a result of the extent right here is loopy,” De Lie smiled when he took a seat within the press room afterwards. The farmer’s son from Lescheret within the province of Luxembourg confessed that he felt one thing of obligation to offer worth for cash on his first journey outdoors of Europe.
“I got here right here with ambition, however the staff needed to make investments for me to return right here,” he stated. “I used to be the one who stated firstly of the yr that I wished to return to Canada, so elevating my arms here’s a approach of claiming thanks to the administration for placing their confidence in me, as a result of it’s an costly journey to make.”
De Lie already had a agency concept of the lie of the land in Québec from greater than a decade of watching attentively on tv, and he was in a position to familiarise himself totally with the 12.6km city circuit and the climbs of the Côte de la Montagne and the Côte des Glacis following his arrival in Canada on Tuesday.
“I wished a mass dash and it’s uncommon that it doesn’t occur right here, however I did consider the 2011 version when Philippe Gilbert received and all of it kicked off a bit,” he stated. “However the final editions have all been run off in an analogous approach, so I used to be in a position to maintain contemporary for the finale.”
For the finale on the regular however sapping slopes of the Grande Allée, De Lie had Matthews’ late profitable efforts from 2018 and 2019 in thoughts as a mannequin, however he ended up opening dash slightly before he had anticipated. It hardly mattered. Along with his arms on the hoods, De Lie delivered an exhibition in kinetic power, churning a mammoth gear as he swooped previous Robust to assert an emphatic victory.
“I attempted to handle myself on the ultimate climb with out going à bloc, however you’re nonetheless having to go just about flat on the market, to be sincere,” De Lie defined. “With 500m or so to go, it flattened out a bit and Florian Vermeersch and Maxim Van Gils protected me so I may save my pressure for the true finale.
“I’d seen that Matthews had sprinted very late when he received right here earlier than and that was my plan too. In the long run, I believe I launched from fairly a great distance out, however I used to be nonetheless in a position to carry loads of velocity as a result of I used to be within the slipstream of the others. It’s a finale that doesn’t lie. It’s often the strongest who wins and right this moment that was me.”
European Championships
De Lie has developed the very helpful behavior of profitable sprints, even when he’s not totally satisfied that he’s a sprinter per se.
“Lots of people inform me that I’m a sprinter, however I’m nonetheless lacking one thing in a extremely flat dash,” he stated. “However in a dash like right this moment, the place it’s about power, that’s one thing completely different. I received La Polynormande in France, which has an analogous finale, so I knew I may come right here with loads of ambition.”
The extent of opposition was altogether completely different in Québec, after all. De Lie’s first victory at this degree was a affirmation of his presents, although he had already signalled his high quality together with his performances to this point, together with a tremendous second place end at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February. Nonetheless, clocking up a WorldTour win was a field he was desperate to tick earlier than season’s finish.
“My huge purpose was to win a WorldTour race and now I’ve accomplished it, so my season is a hit,” De Lie stated. “It’s the nicest win of my profession, the Canadian races are crucial within the calendar. This can be a younger traditional, it’s solely existed since 2010, so not lots of people have it on their palmarès, and now I can say I’m one in all them.”
There might but be extra strains to added to De Lie’s palmarès within the remaining weeks of the marketing campaign. Though he urged Sunday’s GP de Montréal was too hilly for his liking, the teen will line up among the many favourites for the European Championships in Drenthe in a fortnight’s time, the place he’ll share management of the Belgian squad with Wout van Aert.
“I’ve loads of new challenges coming, just like the European Championships,” De Lie stated. “I’ve loads of confidence for that.”
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