'He'll be there' - Arnaud De Lie confirmed for Tour de France start despite rollercoaster 2025 season

Lotto team boss Stéphane Heulot has confirmed that Belgian sprinter Arnaud De Lie will ride this year's Tour de France as one of three leaders of a 'three-headed snake' leadership strategy.

23-year-old De Lie has raced the Tour once before, in 2024, securing five top five finishes, including tow top three finish on stages 3 and 8. He has 27 wins in his palmares.

De Lie's difficult first half of the 2025 season slowed down his win-rate notably and also raised doubts about whether De Lie would be ready in time for the Tour.

Belgian newspaper Dernière Heure' suggested De Lie "Was like a ghost during the Classics," as his race form and race programme was questioned.

However, the Lotto team believe De Lie delivered a much more consistent performance at the Tour de Suisse. Even if there wasn't a win in Switzerland last week, the team could see signs of his improving form despite the exceptionally difficult race route.

Having steadied the ship in the nick of time, Lotto boss Stéphane Heulot gave the official green light to De Lie's Tour participation on Belgian national radio station RTBF.

"He'll be there," Heulot commented. "The timing's been close but I'm delighted with his evolution in the last week. I've found the Arnaud again that I knew before. Motivated and determined. He's doing fine."

Heulot pointed out that there had been a false start at the Rund um Köln in mid-May, where De Lie abandoned and a bout of illness and subsequent DNS at Boucles de la Mayenne stage race later the same month.

"But there was no emergency stop in his training, otherwise he'd never have finished the Tour de Suisse, given how hard it is. He's ready for the Tour," Heulot said.

"I prefer to see the glass half-full and he's fresh and keen to prove things, some as soon as next Sunday in Binche" - the scene of the Belgian Road National Championships, where De Lie is defending champion.

Lotto's protected rider strategy for the Tour Heulot said, will be completed by two other up-and-coming Belgians alongside De Lie, Lennert van Eetvelt and Jenno Berckmoes.

Van Eetvelt is a former winner of the UAE Tour and Tour de Guangxi and is making his debut in the French Grand Tour after two Vuelta a España participations. Berckmoes is the recent winner of the toughest stage of the Baloise Tour of Belgium.

Like De Lie, both Berckmoes and Van Eeetvelt will race the Belgian Nationals' this weekend prior to heading over the border to Lille and the start of the Tour de France.

De Lie and the rest of the Lotto team will also go to the Tour de France with a new jersey design, with longstanding sponsor CAPS, a fuel and charging card company, added to the maillot.

CAPS' inclusion on the jersey is only provisional though, as Lotto's quest for a long-term second title sponsor continues - so far without any significant breakthroughs.