What's really wrong with Arnaud De Lie?

Good morning,

These are today's quotes and interviews worth your time.

Stood out to me today: "I heard a disc brake dragging, so I thought someone was still on my wheel. But when I looked back, I realized it must have been mine from the power I was putting out."

¡Vamos!

🎤 INTERESTING INTERVIEWS

"When you're too focused on cycling, you risk losing control of your personal life."

Remco Evenepoel on Giulio Pellizzari, competing against Tadej Pogačar, the Hour Record, and faith

Remco Evenepoel is not treating this generation of rivals as a curse. Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, he was direct: "No, it's a stimulus. I focus mainly on myself, on what I can do. And compared to previous seasons, my intention is to race more."

At Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, he says he's still finding new layers. "In this team I'm discovering new things about myself too. It really was the right moment to change. There's great communication and connections between every aspect of the preparation." The change of coach and teammates, he says, brings renewed motivation as a starting point.

The Hour Record came up. Filippo Ganna currently holds it at 56.792 kilometers, and Evenepoel has staff with the pedigree to chase it. But he's in no hurry. "Not this year, not even in 2027. I've never ridden much on the track. We do have someone like Dan Bigham on staff, who was himself a record holder. But if it happens, it won't be before 2030."

On the Simon Yates retirement and the broader question of mental burnout, Evenepoel offered something more personal. "When I get home from training, my wife Oumi asks how it went, and then that's it. We don't talk about cycling anymore. When you're too focused on cycling, you risk losing control of your personal life." He framed it as a deliberate position: "Cycling is not forever. Being a husband, a father — it surpasses it. The more you enjoy the good times, the better you manage the difficult ones."

He also spoke openly about his faith. "It's no secret that since Oumi and I got married in 2022, I share her religion. It's something I'm learning day by day, month by month, year by year, and I'm happy."

On Giulio Pellizzari, who will lead Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at the Giro d'Italia: "I met him at the winter training camps and we raced together at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana for the first time. He's a bit younger than me, but we have the same energy. The moment he can think about standing on the Giro's podium is very close. And when you're ready for the top three, you can aim to win. He can become one of the best grand tour riders in the world."

"He wasn't sick in the traditional sense of the word."

David van der Poel on Arnaud De Lie's third consecutive spring collapse

For the third year running, Arnaud De Lie has fallen short of what was expected of him in spring. His agent, David van der Poel (Mathieu's brother) spoke to DH and did not soften it. "Mentally it's not easy to miss your spring goals for the third year in a row, especially when winter went fine. There was that ankle injury, but it had no impact. It's bad luck. Arnaud knows he has nothing to blame himself for. He worked perfectly in every area."

The fourth place at In Flanders Fields, Van der Poel explained, came on fumes. "Internally we knew he wasn't actually feeling well. He even hesitated to start. In the week and a half leading up to it, he wasn't in shape and had barely trained. In the days that followed, he was extremely fatigued again. He wasn't sick in the traditional sense of the word. He just didn't feel good. Very tired, without any clear reason. And that's exactly what makes the situation so difficult to manage."

Lyme disease is not off the table. De Lie contracted it two years ago, and Van der Poel was measured: "We're keeping that possibility in mind. We want to understand exactly what's happening, to avoid this scenario repeating itself every year."

On the transfer question: Van der Poel confirmed two or three genuinely interesting options alongside Lotto-Intermarché. "Arnaud is looking for a team that sees him as a person first, not just as a rider. He needs trust, a family environment, and a strong human project. The idea is to choose a team that wants to build with him long term."

"Paula is like me, but 20 years younger."

Mavi García on mentoring Paula Blasi and their relationship at UAE Team ADQ

This is Mavi García's final season in the peloton, and she's spending part of it transferring everything she knows to Paula Blasi. The two ride together at UAE Team ADQ. Speaking to Marca, García described what she sees in her younger teammate: "Paula is like me, but 20 years younger. We get along very well and we're very similar. I feel we can talk about everything. There are many aspects of myself I see in her: the joy, the desire to train and be a cyclist, the hyperactivity. Neither of us knows how to stand still."

García is deliberate about what she passes on. "I try to share my knowledge with her little by little, day by day, on things like rest, training, nutrition, behavior inside the team. Everything I've had to learn to be a cyclist. For instance, I used to never rest, because I thought it was better to keep pushing in training. Experience has taught me that's not the case. Now it's Paula's turn to learn that same lesson."

Blasi, who came to cycling after a running injury at 21, has always felt like an outsider. "I enjoy training for five or six hours, while everyone around me always seems to prefer a relaxed one-hour coffee ride. It helps to have someone like Mavi nearby, who also enjoys going hard but knows how to calm me down and tell me when to rest, without me feeling so strange."

Their Tour Down Under was a statement of how the partnership translates on the road: second and third in the overall. Now they head into the Ardennes before sharing La Vuelta Femenina. García is clear on what she wants from it: "I'd like to compete for the general and I think Paula can be there with me. For me it will be a help and a motivation to have her alongside me."

🏆 THE SERGE BAGUET AWARD

Not awarded today

Wonder what The Serge Baguet Award is all about? Check it out here.

💬 QUICK QUOTES

"I heard a disc brake dragging, so I thought someone was still on my wheel. But when I looked back, I realized it must have been mine from the power I was putting out." — Tim Merlier, Het Nieuwsblad, after winning the Ronde van Limburg

"That third place was very unexpected. I kept overtaking people. I'm not even the best sprinter, but I could feel it was a good day." — Floris Van Tricht, Het Nieuwsblad, after finishing third at the Ronde van Limburg

"I had intel from people that were at the race — just the number of people that were packing up and leaving after the men's. And it gives this sense of failure rather than the feeling you got when it was on its own day — when everyone was there because they wanted to be there for the women. Even sponsors, like, apparently Oakley packed up and left after the men's race, which is just so disappointing." — Former pro Grace Brown, SBS Cycling Podcast, citing insider accounts on the atmosphere collapse at Paris-Roubaix Femmes now that it was scheduled for the first time on the same day as the men's race

"I'm really excited to be extending my contract with CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto and to be staying for another two years." — Zoë Backstedt, Daniel Benson Substack, announcing her two-year contract extension

"It's been a never-ending road to get to this victory, coming back to this race year after year. Knocking on the door and finally today, which for me was the day, we got the win." — Carlos Canal, CyclingUpToDate, after taking his first professional win on stage 2 of O Gran Camiño

"I can continue for another five or six years." — Adam Yates, CyclingUpToDate, ruling out retirement unlike his twin brother Simon Yates, who stepped away from professional cycling at the start of this season

"I was always a rebel. I was a little troublemaker, but I never stayed quiet in front of anyone. Some journalists kept pointing fingers at me. We could only call home two or three times because it was so expensive, and my family would ask if everything they were reporting about me was true. It infuriated me. Was I difficult? Maybe, but I was always focused on what I was doing. Once freed from the pressure I could talk better. Our job was to win races, not to be likeable." — Pedro Delgado, AS, two-time Vuelta a España winner and Tour de France champion, turning 66 yesterday, defending his famously prickly media reputation from his racing years

"The only thing the crowd does to me sometimes is push me into a move that I know is maybe too much for me, or I shouldn't be following this. But, like, second time at Flanders — I'd got myself in this position where I was following a move and it was way too hard, way too much. I should not have been going that hard at that point. But I'm thinking, there's that many people here watching me right now. I can't be seen to just get dropped from the wheel. I'm at Kwaremont. I'm up with this many people watching me right now." — Lewis Askey, Watts Occurring

"This is what's going to happen. They come over the top of the Cauberg together, then Evenepoel says: take over. Then Pidcock does a little half-wave, and then Evenepoel goes full gas again. And then at one and a half kilometers he says: take over. And then Pidcock says: yeah, good luck with that. And then Evenepoel rides on and at one kilometer he turns around and says no, come on, take over. gesturing with his hand. And then Pidcock thinks: no, that's not happening. And then at 500 meters Evenepoel finally goes, and rides a fantastic sprint until he's empty at 100 meters. And then Pidcock sneaks his wheel past." — Thijs Zonneveld, In De Waaier, Beat Cycling DS, with his oddly specific scenario for this week's Amstel Gold Race finale

That's it for today. See you tomorrow 👋

Jay