The 25-year-old Belgian now sits in ninth place with one stage to go.
Ilan Van Wilder is on the verge of scoring another top ten overall result at a prestigious World Tour ace after making inroads in the general classification on the penultimate stage of the Tour de Suisse. It was another hard day in the saddle, animated until 20 kilometers to go by a seven-man breakaway featuring Soudal Quick-Step’s Junior Lecerf.
On the penultimate climb, some of the GC men decided to try to make a difference and attacked, reeling in the escapees, and at the same time, opening a gap on the others. Ilan Van Wilder was distanced, but quickly found his tempo, as well as a place in a strong chasing group, where they worked together to limit the losses. It was no easy task, especially as the gradients of the last climb began to bite towards the end of the stage, but Ilan’s effort was enough for him to take eighth place on the line in Emmetten – at the end of the stage won by Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) – for his tenth top-ten result at World Tour level this season.
“I didn’t have the best feeling today and actually felt the legs a bit heavy. It’s been a hard race so far, but I tried to do my best every time, and even on this stage, I left it all out there in these difficult conditions and can be satisfied with moving up to ninth in the standings. There’s one stage left, a hard one, and I will try to recover as much as possible, then give it my all on Sunday, and afterwards we’ll see where I end up in the Tour de Suisse ranking”, Ilan said ahead of the uphill individual time trial.
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