Ilan Van Wilder will lead our squad at the World Tour event.
It’s not just one of the most prestigious races of the season – won in its early years by some of the time’s finest riders, from Max Bulla to Gino Bartali and from Ferdi Kübler to Hugo Koblet – it’s also one of the hardest, and this year will make no exception.
Of the eight stages scheduled between 15-22 June, five will feature an uphill finish: Schwarzsee, Heiden, Santa Maria in Calanca, Emmetten, and Stockhütte – the last of these being a demanding mountain individual time trial whose brutal double-digit gradients could very well reshuffle the general classification on the final day.
Having won a total of 16 stages at the previous participations, Soudal Quick-Step will look to be again among the protagonists at what will be our last World Tour race before the Tour de France. Ayco Bastiaens, Antoine Huby, James Knox, Junior Lecerf, who was eighth in Romandie last month, Pieter Serry, Ilan Van Wilder – a top ten finisher this season at the Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice and Itzulia Basque Country – and Mauri Vansevenant will be our seven riders for the 88th edition of the Tour de Suisse.
“We travel to this race with a very strong team, both for the flat and the hilly parts. Ilan can go for a good result in the general classification, and in his attempt of getting a strong result he can count on several riders in the mountains. We would also like to score a stage victory there, and for this we’ll take it day by day and try to seize any opportunity we might get”, explained sports director Wilfried Peeters.
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