De Lie Eyes Paris-Roubaix Redemption After Star-Crossed Spring: "We Are Doing Everything to Be Ready"
Arnaud De Lie is targeting Paris-Roubaix on April 12 as his chance to salvage a spring that has been derailed by misfortune at every turn. The Lotto-Intermarché leader, who has still never started a Tour of Flanders in his professional career, is being closely monitored by the team's medical staff as he recovers from the illness that forced him out of the Ronde for a second consecutive year.
De Lie's 2026 season has been a catalogue of setbacks. It began over Christmas when a domestic accident — falling down the stairs at his home — left him with an ankle injury that disrupted his entire off-season preparation. "I wasn't allowed to ride for eight days, but that's back to normal now," De Lie said in January, though the delayed start inevitably pushed his form timeline back by weeks.
The Belgian former national champion returned to racing at the Clásica de Almería in February and showed encouraging flashes of his immense talent at both the Volta ao Algarve and Tirreno-Adriatico. A promising fourth place at Gent-Wevelgem In Flanders Fields suggested his form was trending in the right direction as the cobbled Classics approached, but the cruel pattern of his spring reasserted itself at Dwars door Vlaanderen, where he was dropped early and abandoned the race after falling ill.
The illness persisted through the week, and by Friday morning the decision was made: De Lie would not start the Tour of Flanders. It is a remarkable and unwanted statistic that the 23-year-old, widely regarded as one of the most naturally talented cobbled riders of his generation, has never lined up for the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Crashes and illness have conspired to keep him away from cycling's greatest one-day race in each of the last two seasons.
"Arnaud is being closely monitored by the medical staff and performance coaches to ensure he can prepare as well as possible for Paris-Roubaix and be fully fit for that goal," Lotto-Intermarché confirmed. The team skipped Milan-San Remo earlier in the spring specifically to keep De Lie fresh for the cobbled Classics, making his absence from Flanders all the more painful for a squad that had built its entire spring campaign around the young Belgian's trajectory.
The Hell of the North may prove a more natural fit for De Lie's explosive power profile than the hills of the Flemish Ardennes. His raw wattage numbers are among the highest in the peloton, and at 23 he possesses the physical attributes — strength, bike handling and sprint speed — that Paris-Roubaix demands. If the illness clears in time and his body responds to this week's training, De Lie could be among the most dangerous outsiders in a race dominated by talk of Pogacar's Monument sweep and Van der Poel's four-peat bid.
Whether De Lie lines up in Compiègne on Sunday will depend on the final days of recovery and a green light from the team's doctors. After the most frustrating spring of his young career, the Hell of the North offers something De Lie desperately needs: a chance to prove that his talent is not defined by the setbacks that have overshadowed it.