At least for now, Arnaud de Lee is not overwhelmed by the ever-increasing attention and is simply enjoying the novelty. A week or so before his unforgettable one-legged victory at the Famennes Ardennes Classic last fall, he learned that he had even been praised in song by the Leuven punk band Ramones van het Groenewoud.

Taking a rather large cue from Blondie's "Denis," the trio proclaimed their undying admiration for the Lotto-Dostony rider in a frenetic combination of English, French, and Dutch (sample lyrics: "You are a bull, you gallop like a cat / You are super cool, You're no chasse patate"). De Lier was informed of this tribute by his mother on his way home after finishing fourth in the European Championships.

"It was a surprise for me," de Lier laughed at the Lot Dostny media day in Mechelen on Friday. 'It was right after the European Championships where I finished second and fourth. But then my mother called me and told me they had a new song about me. I was very surprised, but they are nice people and it was kind of fun."

The song will inevitably boom from the bars of the Flanders Ardennes region this spring, when De Lier competes in his first Tour de Flanders. De Lier has already shown his qualities with 19 wins in his first two seasons as a professional, but his 2024 race schedule is full of World Tour events, a clear indication of his ambitious step up in ambition.

De Lier will start the season a little later than usual with the Vuelta a Murcia and Clasica de Almeria, and will compete in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where he finished second the year before. He will also run Paris-Nice with Le Samin and compete in Milan-San Remo on March 16, his 22nd birthday.

But his biggest spring goals are in the weekends that follow, starting with the E3 Harelbeke and perhaps Ghent-Wevelgem. De Lier will also take on the Douard de Flanderen, and after his first ride in the Ronde, he will return to Paris-Roubaix.

"My goal this year is to win the Flanders Classics. Every year I am getting better, so I hope this year will be the year," said De Lier.

"My goal is to win the Flanders Classics," said De Lier. My goal is to stay in good shape during the Flanders Classic and then the Amstel Gold Race.

While de Lier, living up to his nickname, has spoken of his bullish outlook in events such as Omloop and Doir de Vlaanderen, he was more cautious in his debut Tour de Flanders, admitting that the ronde seldom smiles at novices.

"I don't have much experience in the Tour de Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, but I think the classics like Omloop, Harelbeke, and Doire de Vlaanderen have potential for us as a team. With the big competitions, the monuments, you have to see it to believe it. We don't know what is possible. I think a top 10 is possible, but a top 5 or podium would be difficult."

De Lier quietly asserted that his future lies in these races. Although he has 19 wins to date, De Lier is not a pure sprinter, preferring the uphill climbs of the Grand-Allee at the Grand Prix of Quebec.

"My first goal is the Flanders Classics," De Lier replied when asked about his ambition to sprint in 2024. I don't know many riders, apart from Alexander Kristoff, who have won all the group sprints and also the Tour of Flanders. There was Tom Boonen, but Tom Boonen wasn't a bunch sprinter either."

Still, De Lier will be looking to capitalize on his fast finish on the big stage this summer. His Grand Tour debut was always scheduled for this year, but Lot Destney announced on Friday that he would not be competing in the Giro d'Italia. Instead, he opted to send De Lier to the Tour, citing the fact that there is plenty of room for a group finish in July without a pure sprinter.

"There are four to six stages that suit me. There are stages for punchers, and I like the gravel stages up to the Trois," said De Lier, whose first experience of watching the Tour on television was at age 9, when his predecessor in the Lotto jersey took the stage win and the maillot jaune on day one.

"My first memory about the Tour was Philippe Gilbert's stage win in Mont des Alouettes in 2011. The Tour is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, so it's special to be able to say to my family, 'I'm running.'"

Meanwhile, right after the Tour, there is the prospect of participating in another world event: the course of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which seems ideally suited to De Lier's characteristics, and his selflessness in replacing Wout Van Aert at last year's European Championships, which led to his selection It has not harmed his prospects.

Van Aert and Lemko Evenpool are already virtually certain to make the Olympic squad, leaving De Lier to compete with the likes of Jasper Philipsen for the one remaining four-man spot. De Lee smiled when asked about his chances of selection, saying, "I think the best option would be me, but that's because I'm biased."

Last fall, when de Lee sacrificed his chances of a European title in favor of Van Aert, former national coach José de Kower suggested that it would be "the last time" he would ask such a thing of the youngster. De Lee was diplomatic when asked about his role in the team with Van Aert and Evenpool.

"The Olympics could be a big goal for me and for Belgium. But it's not so easy to get to the Olympics because Belgium has a lot of talented athletes. But it's not that easy to get there, because Belgium has a lot of talented athletes. But if I don't get selected, I can understand that."

Ramones van het Groeneud may not be so forgiving.

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