ProTeam Arnaud De Lie sprints to victory in Leuven

Arnaud De Lie showed himself to be the strongest of a small leading group in the Tour of Leuven (UCI 1.1) and raced to his seventh victory of the season. He kept the Belgian Stan Van Tricht (Soudal Quick-Step) and the Frenchman Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck) behind him in the sprint.

Lotto Dstny started as the big favorite in the Tour of Leuven. The team took control of the race and eventually a leading group of seven got separated in the final, including Arjen Livyns, Arnaud De Lie and Victor Campenaerts.

Thanks to excellent teamwork, De Lie was able to sprint for the victory.  "It's not always easy to start as a top favourite," he said afterwards, "but I also came with the ambition to win and I'm very happy that I was able to finish it off. After my victory last Sunday I started with a lot of confidence and I felt today that I was in a good shape. I don't think I can improve that much in the upcoming weeks, I think I'm strong enough already," he laughs.

"I'm especially very proud of the work of the team", De Lie continues. "We wanted to make the race hard and that's what we did. Victor was super strong, but the whole team was there. We finish with four in the top ten (Campenaerts sixth, Beullens seventh and Livyns ninth). The atmosphere is great, we all get along very well. This tastes like more, for sure. Now up to that first victory in the World Tour," he ends. "Maybe on Sunday already in the Bemer Cyclassics, or afterwards in the Renewi Tour."

Image: Photo News.