Illness forces De Lie out of Tour de France team presentation in echo of troubled Giro
It never rains but it pours. For the second time in as many Grand Tour appearances, Arnaud De Lie has been forced to miss the team presentation due to illness, with the Belgian an absentee on Thursday evening in Barcelona.
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At the Giro d’Italia in May, De Lie was confined to the hotel for the team presentation after being among the many riders affected by illness following the Famenne Classic the previous weekend.
It is believed that De Lie’s illness on that occasion had been caused by Campylobacter, a bacterium found in the intestines of animals. It was speculated that the combination of rain and cow dung on the course during the Famenne Classic caused the bacterial infection among the riders, with several teams affected.
De Lie subsequently struggled to stay with the peloton during the opening days of the Giro in Bulgaria, and he abandoned the race on stage 4.
He returned to action at the Tour de Wallonie in June, winning a stage and placing third overall. De Lie also lined up at the Circuit Franco-Belge, the Copenhagen Sprint and the Belgian Championships in his final build-up to the Tour.
On Thursday afternoon, however, Lotto Intermarché announced that De Lie had been laid low by illness ahead of the Tour, and that he would stay at the hotel rather than attend the team presentation in the evening.
“Arnaud De Lie is suffering from a stomach upset and will not attend tonight’s Tour de France team presentation,” the team said. “As a precaution, he will stay at the hotel to rest and recover, with the aim of being fully ready for the start of the Tour de France on Saturday.”
De Lie is lining up for his third Tour appearance, and he will hope to improve on his previous showings. His highest stage finish on each occasion was third place.
“The Tour starts on Saturday, so we’ve still got a bit of time,” Lotto Intermarché manager Jean-François Bourlart told RTBF. “We’ve put him in isolation, and he was already feeling better on Thursday. It’s not the same as at the Giro. It’s less serious, the doctors are adamant.”
De Lie’s illness is a further blow for the team following the news earlier this week that head of performance Aike Visbeek was stepping away from his role with immediate effect.
“It has to do with personal circumstances,” Visbeek told De Telegraaf. “My father-in-law passed away two days ago, so I’ve decided to spend this summer with my family.”
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