"Others were faster" - Remco Evenepoel tried taking control of Tour de Suisse on day one

Remco Evenepoel and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team were very active in the finale of stage one at the Tour de Suisse, as they attempted to attack the race and get the yellow jersey from day one, however didn't find the right opportunity.

His teammate Ilan van Wilder, who finished sixth on the day after resisting the hard pace in the front group, has described the stage: “It was a hard stage to kick off a race, but we did a good job, staying together, controlling things and answering all the dangerous moves," he said. It was all to play for in the final ascent and the subsequent kilometers, where Evenepoel attacked several times.

"The list climb was demanding, but Remco gave it a go, while I stayed with the rest," the Belgian pointed out, as Evenepoel answered the attack of Jakob Fuglsang and tried to forge clear - only to be caught near the summit. Once again in the final two kilometers Evenepoel counter-attacked Aleksandr Vlasov and entered the final kilometer ahead, but the fast pace in the chasing group cancelled the attack.

Van Wilder himself attack, as he says: "When he got caught the second time, I went for it, but the others were faster," however he still had the legs for the final sprint where he was the first rider to open up, however too early which saw him come down to a still respectable sixth place (in his first day back in the peloton since his Liège-Bastogne-Liège crash). "Still, to finish top 10 in my first race in a while is a good and encouraging result," he concluded.