Ilan van Wilder on continuous streak of bad luck: "It's unbelievable what I'm going through"

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team have had an unlucky Liège-Bastogne-Liège. For some at least... as Remco Evenepoel came out with the win, but both Julian Alaphilippe and Ilan van Wilder suffered harsh injuries. The Belgian talent is back training, but has had to miss out on the Giro d'Italia due to a broken jaw.

He's talked about his comeback on Het Nieuwsblad, where he's mentioned the planned schedule for the coming months: “I'll start again in the Baloise Belgium Tour or – if things go really well – in the Tour of Switzerland. This is followed by a new altitude training period with the team in Livigno, to work towards the Tour of Poland and perhaps also the Vuelta. That is not yet one hundred percent certain."

The Belgian thinks a Grand Tour is the natural next step in his career, and is eager to get wheels on the ground at the Vuelta a España later in the year: "That will do my development very well." He may follow a very similar path to Remco Evenepoel's preparation for the Spanish race, and would be a considerable domestique for the Belgian super-talent in Spain if it is to be the case. However he has not shied away from going through the complications of his last months.

“It's unbelievable what I'm going through: knee surgery in November. Then corona, then fallen in Catalonia. I was supposed to go on an altitude internship, but that didn't take place after a flu epidemic in the team. Finally I got ready for the Giro – I can say I was in the best shape of my life – and then I break my jaw in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège," he added. It was a very complicated start for van Wilder in the Belgian team, however he still has one and a half years of contract to show his worth within the team.

“Last year there was that hassle with DSM. Now I've lost another six weeks. Every time something happens that just doesn't work. It has to stop and it will stop. I feel like this injury is a turning point, that all bad luck is finally over," van Wilder stresses, disappointed with how his last half year has turned out.