Arnaud de Lee, one of the most successful sprinters of 2023, had just won his first race on Sunday at the Famennes Ardennes Classic.

The Lotto-Destney rider had been out of competition for four weeks after struggling in the Classic. The tick-borne bacteria that causes Lyme disease is often cured with antibiotics, and that seems to have helped.

After outsprinting Axel Jingle (Cofidis) and teammate Maxime Van Gils, De Lier was understandably relieved.

"I'm very happy with the win after a difficult time," said de Rie. 'I have no words. I want to thank everyone who has helped me over the past few weeks. In the beginning of the race I wasn't feeling very good and with the wind it was difficult. But suddenly I felt better and my teammates trusted me and they were very strong. I'm proud of them."

De Lier's problems surfaced after a crash in Le Samyn led to his struggles in Paris-Nice. After crashing in Paris-Nice, he skipped Milan-San Remo and finished in the top 10 at the Dunain GP and Coxaide Classic; after finishing lower in the E3 Saxo Classic and Ghent-Wevelgem, the team put De Lier on the bench for the Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Sunday's victory shows that the 22-year-old De Lier is making his Tour de France debut as the team planned.

"This gives me confidence. This confidence was somewhat lost when I was going through a difficult time. Now I feel like it's coming back a little bit. This is a great first step," de Lee said.

"I've had some difficult times recently. I trained a lot and made a lot of sacrifices. But in the end we didn't do much. But in the end we didn't do much, so to win here is a great joy. But I'm especially happy to be feeling good again."

De Lier will focus on one-day races in the coming weeks, with the Grand Prix du Morbihan, Toro Bro Leon, and Circuit de Wallonie before taking on his final Tour de France in June at the Tour de Suisse.