Tour de Suisse

Ilan Van Wilder produced another brave ride at this week’s race, gaining more time on the general classification and moving into the top ten with three stages to go, thus continuing his upward trajectory that the Belgian hopes will bring him another solid result this season after the ones in Paris-Nice and Itzulia Basque Country.

The climbing began soon after the start of the queen stage, and with it, a serious fight for the breakaway. Julierpass, San Bernardino Pass, and the incredibly steep Castaneda – which was to be tackled twice – were the four first-category ascents of the day and made for a vertical gain of nearly 4000 meters, reshuffling the general classification of the last World Tour stage race before the Grande Boucle. Five men made it into the front group and remained there until the penultimate climb, where they were reabsorbed and dropped by a select group featuring Ilan, but not the yellow jersey of the race.

The ten men in the lead continued like this until the last time up the Castaneda, where attacks came pretty fast, despite the steep gradients of this real bruiser of a climb that broke the race apart, leaving every man for himself. Ilan did his best to pace himself without going into red on those neverending slopes and managed to catch and pass some of the riders in front of him en route to a strong sixth place – a result that elevated the young Belgian to a solid tenth in the standings.

“It was very hot and very hard today. I tried to stay as long as possible in the GC group and follow the other guys. I knew some of them will have problems on the last climb, so I just choose my own pace. I think I can be content with my result on this queen stage”, Ilan said after the finish.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images