Soudal Quick-Step’s 23-year-old Belgian is in a good position going into the mountains.
Ilan Van Wilder continued to move up in the general classification of the Tour de Romandie, this time after a great ride in the 15.5km individual time trial held around Oron. Fourth overall at the start of the day, Ilan was among the last to roll down the ramp and had to face challenging conditions due to the rain that appeared in the final hour of the stage, complicating things and slowing down the GC contenders.
Despite the slippery roads and tricky corners and descents, Van Wilder managed to put together a good time trial, averaging over 45km/h and stopping the clock in 30:20, a result that helped him take top ten on the stage won by Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates). The ITT, despite being relatively short, gave the general classification a meaningful shake-up, and Ilan was among those who benefitted from this, moving to second with two stages remaining.
“The parcours was nice, but unfortunately the rain made it difficult out there, so I couldn’t go full gas in the corners. I tried to keep the speed as high as possible in between, but with the wind picking up, it wasn’t easy at all. In the end, I did a good ride, which is a nice confidence-boost ahead of Saturday’s hard mountain stage”, Ilan said after the finish.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen / Getty Images
