Ilan van Wilder talk about Team DSM complications: "That period at DSM was hell"

Ilan van Wilder was a late transfer last year into Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl for a two-year contract. Off a long list of riders who abandoned Team DSM precociously, there was a mutual contract termination already after the season had ended, revealing the bad relationships that existed.

He's now confirmed details about the last months spent at DSM, and how negative the experience was for him and his mental health. "...That period at DSM was hell. So I can put into perspective what is happening to me now. I admit: last season – or at least the second half of it – was mentally the most difficult period of my life. Put any rider in my place and three quarters give up or get depressed.”

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It is known already that the team's strict guidance has seen many of it's leaders - Tom Dumoulin, Marcel Kittel and Michael Matthews to name a few - leave. Last year, a report from Sporza accounted an unnamed rider comparing it to a 'Soviet regime'. Although details have never fully emerged, van Wilder has talked about how unhappy he was with the team.

The 21-year old has said that throughout the final months in his team he had been depressed and didn't have the motivation to train: "Every morning I got up in the dark, with no purpose, no perspective for the future. Exactly the opposite of what a top athlete needs. You think: what the fuck am I supposed to train for five hours now? Why? And yet I did it. I haven't given up."

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Nevertheless, the potential was recognized and he managed to strike a contract with Quick-Step. "When the team still fielded me in two races in September, they were surprised themselves at how good I was. And because I reached level, I was still able to make the switch to Quick-Step. I came out of it well and I owe that to myself," he added.

A horrible situation for the young talent is what he recalls, however 2022 has not started much better with illnesses and injuries dealing a blow to his early-season calendar - having missed the ongoing Giro d'Italia.