Arnaud De Lie won the Tour du Limbourg on Monday following 202.6 km between Hasselt and Tongeren. The young sprinter from Lotto-Soudal beat the Italian Simone Consonni (Cofidis) and the Dutchman Danny van Popel (Bora-Hansgrohe).
De Lie, 20, offers himself a third consecutive success, following winning the Marcel Kint Classic on May 29 and the Flèche de Heist on Saturday. This is already the sixth victory for the Walloon neo-pro.
The race was animated by the breakaway of five riders, who left at the start of the day: Jens Schuermans (BEAT), Yentl Vandevelde (Minerva), Louis Blouwe (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB), Sander Lemmens (Tarteletto-Isorex) and the French Thibault Ferasse (B&B Hotels).
They counted up to 4 minutes in advance before seeing the peloton set off. Blouwe and Kamiel Bonneu (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), meanwhile coming back from behind, were the last to be picked up, shortly following the start of the last lap.
A fall, notably involving Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) occurred before the red flame.
In the sprint, De Lie chose Bennett’s wheel, which he overtook to add a line to his record. Consonni took second place ahead of Van Poppel. Milan Senten, 4th ahead of Bennett, Quinten Hermans (6th), Piet Allegaert (7th) and Tim Merlier (10th), winner last year, also rank in the top-10.
