Arnaud De Lie will lead Lotto’s charge at the 2025 Tour de France, team manager Stéphane Heulot has confirmed, drawing a line under months of uncertainty around the 23-year-old sprinter’s form and fitness. He’ll be joined by Lennert Van Eetvelt and Jenno Berckmoes in a deliberately flexible three-leader setup described by Heulot as a “three-headed snake”.
De Lie, who made his Tour debut last year, impressed in 2024 with five top-five stage finishes, including podiums on stages 3 and 8. But the first half of his 2025 campaign has been far more turbulent. A disappointing spring Classics campaign left fans and pundits wondering whether De Lie’s trajectory had stalled, with La Dernière Heure noting he was “like a ghost” in the cobbled races.
His programme also suffered disruptions. He was forced to abandon Rund um Köln in mid-May, then pulled out of Boucles de la Mayenne with illness before the start. But crucially, his training was never fully derailed. He completed the mountainous Tour de Suisse last week, and although he didn’t win, the team saw signs that his form was turning around.
“He’ll be there,” Heulot told RTBF radio on Monday. “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.”
With the Belgian Nationals in Binche looming on Sunday, where De Lie will defend the title he won so emphatically last year, Heulot hinted that his sprinter might already be ready to deliver again. “I prefer to see the glass half full,” he said. “He’s fresh, and he’s keen to prove something.”
Lotto’s leadership model for this year’s Tour doesn’t place all responsibility on De Lie’s shoulders. Instead, Van Eetvelt and Berckmoes join him as co-leaders. Van Eetvelt, a UAE Tour and Tour of Guangxi winner, makes his Tour debut after two Vuelta appearances, while Berckmoes recently claimed victory on the queen stage of the Baloise Tour of Belgium.
All three will race the Belgian championships this weekend before heading to Lille for the Grand Départ on 5th July. Their Tour build-up coincides with a jersey update for Lotto, which now features new sponsor CAPS, a fuel and charging card company. However, the deal is currently only provisional, and Lotto continues to seek a second long-term title sponsor.
For now, the focus is back on De Lie. His raw power, tenacity and instincts in the final 200 metres made him one of Belgium’s most exciting prospects last year. If his form has truly turned, his return to the Tour could be a very different chapter from the one that preceded it.
