A penny for Arnaud De Lie’s thoughts. The Lotto Intermarché rider was forced out of the Tour de France on stage three due to illness, months after he had quit the Giro d’Italia in similar circumstances.
The 24-year-old battled back to fitness after leaving the Giro early, winning a stage of the Tour de Wallonie last month, but a stomach bug has cut short his time in France.
Stage three was brutal, with De Lie suffering in the heat, coming after he finished last on Sunday’s stage two. The pace was high all day, first for the fight to get into the breakaway, and then peloton pulling back that break, led by UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
As Tadej Pogačar of UAE celebrated his stage victory, and going into yellow, De Lie was stepping off the bike.
A press release from the team read: “Having suffered from an abdominal infection in the days leading up to the Grand Départ, and despite making steady progress in his recovery, the demands of today’s stage, raced in scorching temperatures approaching 40°C, ultimately proved too much.
“After being dropped, De Lie did everything he could to stay in the race, supported for many kilometres by teammate Baptiste Veistroffer. The three Pyrenean climbs in the final part of the stage, combined with the extreme heat, made the challenge even tougher. To protect his health, the Belgian eventually stepped off his bike on the final climb of the day.”
“It’s obviously a huge disappointment. I had worked for months to be ready for this Tour de France and I was dreaming of fighting for the sprint finishes,” De Lie said. “Unfortunately, this stomach infection weakened me a lot. I gave everything I had over the first two stages, but today I simply didn’t have the legs to continue, especially in such extreme heat.
“I hung on in a small group behind Baptiste, but the succession of climbs in the final was just too demanding. I told Baptiste to go on so that he could make it back within the time limit. The only thing I can do now is focus on making a full recovery and come back stronger for the rest of the season.”
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