"It was a brutal day" - Ilan van Wilder loses GC podium at Romandie but is satisfied as others cracked
Cycling
The likes of Juan Ayuso, Luke Plapp and Damiano Caruso - for different reasons - struggled a lot in the queen stage of the Tour de Romandie and lost their places in the GC. Ilan van Wilder descended from second to fourth, however he was satisfied as he avoided the difficulties some of his rivals features.
“It was a brutal day with a hard pace from the first climb. I was lucky to have the support of the team, and especially Julian’s (Alaphilippe, ed.), who was with me almost the entire day," van Wilder said in a post-race interview. The Belgian saw a few of his rivals for the overall classification struggle. Soudal - Quick-Step or van Wilder did not have to work, but instead respond to the attacks on the final climb.
"It was difficult for everyone on the last ascent and I missed a bit there to follow the best guys, but I quickly found my tempo and kept it until the finish," the Belgian described. He didn't have a direct answer to the moves of Florian Lipowitz, but paced his way into the finish in Leysin, arriving in seventh place, 31 seconds down on Richard Carapaz.
"Overall, I am satisfied with this result, because it shows that I’m improving in World Tour races," he concluded. Ultimately, this earned van Wilder a fourth spot in the overall classification, where he is expected to finish the race. However with a few hills and wet roads, he is first in line to ascend to the podium in case something happens to one of the riders ahead.
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- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Read what @IlanWilder had to say after cementing his place in the top five of the #TDR2024 general classification at the end of Saturday's draining stage 4: soudal-quickstepteam.com/en/news/6515/r… Photo: @GettySport
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