“Today it was important to be in the top 10-15" - Ilan Van Wilder continues GC challenge at the Tour de Pologne

On a challenging day at the Tour de Pologne, Ilan Van Wilder kept up his hopes of taking the first general classification win of his career with a fourth-placed finish on stage 3.

"Today it was important to be in the top 10-15, both on the last downhill and at the start of the climb, and thanks to the team I was in a good position," the 23-year-old Belgian told the official website of Soudal - Quick-Step after finishing behind a stage podium of Rafal Majka, Matej Mohoric and Michal Kwiatkowski.

"In the closing kilometre, everybody began attacking and I found myself a bit stuck and couldn’t really go when I wanted to," Van Wilder continues his analysis of the day's racing. "On the other hand, fourth and the fact that I came with the others without losing any time is a good result."

With a flat, most likely sprint stage to come on stage 4, Van Wilder's position of 5th in the general classification, 20 seconds behind race leader Mohoric looks assured for at least another day.