Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) picked up his first victory of 2026 with a grinding sprint in a thrilling climax to the Lotto Famenne Ardenne Classic on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Belgian has been struggling for form all season but produced one of his characteristic uphill-drag sprint finishes to claim his third victory in the past four editions of the Belgian one-day race.
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Cresting the Côte de Roy (3.4km at 3.9%) for the fourth and final time on the four laps of the finishing circuit, that comprised most of the 186km route, a trio had 30 seconds in hand: Ryan Gal (Metec-Solarwatt-Mantel), Filippo d’Aiutio (General Store-Essegibi-F.Lli Curia), and Maxence Place (Aarco).
Several kilometres later, with just 5km remaining, that gap was unchaged, as De Lie’s Lotto-Intermarché team – who’d worked all day – left it to the other teams to chase. The deficit was still 20 seconds as the leading trio entered the final kilometre, setting up a dramatic finale.
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