Arnaud De Lie abandons Antwerp Port Epic after injuring elbow in crash

Arnaud De Lie suffered a further setback on Monday when he was forced to abandon the Antwerp Port Epic after he crashed with 110km to go. He appeared to suffer an injury to his right arm in the fall. Although he remounted and attempted to continue, he withdrew from the race shortly afterwards. His Lotto team have yet to confirm the extent of his injuries.

The Belgian champion has endured a difficult 2025 to date, with Lotto ending his Classics campaign early for the second season in succession following his abandon at Gent-Wevelgem in late March.

De Lie’s return to competition at Rund um Köln in May was an underwhelming one as he abandoned barely 40km into the race, and he missed the recent Boucles de Mayenne due to illness. 

The 23-year-old showed significant improvement at the Brussels Cycling Classic on Sunday, however, as he placed third in a bunch sprint won by Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep).

On Sunday, De Lie intimated that he had lost his appetite for the sport during the Spring but he struck an upbeat note both before and after his outing at the Brussels Cycling Classic. “We agreed that our only goal here is to find the joy in racing again, because I had completely lost that,” De Lie said beforehand. 

That performance persuaded Lotto to field De Lie in the Antwerp Port Epic on Sunday, but his race ended prematurely when he crashed near the midpoint.

The extent of De Lie’s injuries is not yet clear, and it remains to be seen what impact the crash will have on his upcoming race programme. De Lie was scheduled to race the Tour de Suisse next week before defending his Belgian road race title ahead of a possible participation at the Tour de France.

“If Arnaud feels good about himself, then he'll grow very quickly,” Lotto directeur sportif Nikolas Maes said, according to Wielerflits. “The Tour is close, but I think he definitely has something to look forward to there.”