Belgian sprinter Arnaud de Lee was one of the stars of the breakthrough 2022 campaign, and he continued his momentum this season, returning on the opening weekend to finish second in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and seventh in the Cuneux Brussels Cuneux and 7th in the Coupe Brussel-Coone.

The 20-year-old from Lot Doustney was listed as one of the favorites to win by several of his fellow pros before the weekend, and he more than lived up to those expectations. In the Omloop, he was the only man to run Mur van Geraalsbergen in the big chain, following Dylan van Baarle for the best result.

In Sunday's Coulée, he missed out on best of the rest behind the winning breakaway group, but missed out on a sprint win behind Christophe Laporte of Jumbo-Visma.

After the race, Nicolas Maes, Lotto's chief director sportif for this weekend, told Cycling News that De Lier's result was what the team had signed up for in advance.

"To be honest, we would have liked this result, especially second place in the Omloop. I've already worked hard for a couple of years to get on the podium."

"Sure, we're ambitious. But to be honest, today's race against Jumbo Visma was pretty tough. Our only chance was the "pool" after Kruisberg. But once we got into this last part of the circuit, I felt it was over."

De Lier, who has already won three races this season, including an impressive uphill victory at Etoile de Besseges, said he too was satisfied with his weekend's work.

"Seventh in Cournet and second in Omloop, of course, give me satisfaction after my first opening weekend," he said. 'When the race split up in the hills, my legs were heavy at first,' he said."

"If I had felt strong enough, I would have tried to join the attackers at Le Bourriquet, but there I was too busy trying to keep up. Eventually I got into a good rhythm and my legs got better as the race went on."

On Saturday, members of Jumbo Visma, which won both races this weekend in dominating fashion, criticized Lotto in the Belgian press (opens in new tab) for not helping set the pace behind the early break.

On Sunday, the Belgian team was a constant presence at the front of the chase after Jumbo-Visma launched what would be the race-winning move at Le Bourriquet with 84 km to go.

"No," Maes replied, "not by any stretch of the imagination if you expect three riders to close the gap to five riders.

"Obviously it would have taken eight to ten riders to close that gap. Apparently, all the other team riders in the pack were content to sprint in sixth or seventh place."

"The team was not able to close the gap, but it was a good thing that they were able to do so.

Whether he was helped or not during the chase, De Lier was one of the main talking points heading into the weekend. Maes said that his rapid progress was a pleasant surprise, having won nine races as a neo-pro last year.

"When we brought De Lier onto the team last year, we knew he had the ability, but if we had known his growth curve would be this steep, no, this was unexpected," Maes said.

"But he's growing fast; a year ago he was somewhere in the open field, completely out of the peloton.

"We designed a two or three year growth curve for him. We intend to stick to it. Of course, I think adding Omloop was the right choice. We know exactly where we want to go and when we want to go."

De Lier himself is looking forward to the upcoming races, as he is in good shape for the start of the 2023 season. De Lier is a star of Belgium's next generation of classics and a star of the sprinting world, but he is not yet ready to compete in a full classics race.

"I got a bit of a look from everyone in the chase, but my teammates did another great job. The fact that there were five of us left in the group shows that we performed well in the group today."

"Arjen Rivins, Brent Van Meer, and Frederic Frison did a great job leading the pack.

"Unfortunately we didn't come close to winning, but we finished this opening weekend in a good mood. We've made another step forward and with the way things are going, good things are coming."

Maes concluded by describing the near future for the lot's rising stars. There will be more dates with the World Tour, but a selective program is coming up. Omloop was the sixth World Tour race of his career, although his debuts in Paris-Nice and Paris-Roubaix are on the horizon.

"Personally, I think Paris-Roubaix will be a big goal for him. 'But the Tour of Flanders, for example, is not in my plans. I'm going to be very selective about the upcoming races so that I can preserve him as much as possible."

"This rider will be on full throttle in every race. We need to keep good conditions and good flow at all times. We are not going to squeeze him."