Monte Carlo, here we come 😃 #TDF2024 Photo: @BeelWout
"We thought he didn't look great yesterday. But we were clearly wrong" - Ilan Van Wilder admits misjudgement of Jonas Vingegaard's form in stage 20
CyclingSunday, 21 July 2024 at 11:30
While neither UAE Team Emirates nor Visma | Lease a Bike seemed overly interested in taking the stage 20, for Soudal - Quick-Step it was an opportunity for one last shot at Jonas Vingegaard's second spot overall. The team around Remco Evenepoel took control over the course of action to prepare a hopefully decisive strike of their leader.
However Evenepoel wasn't able to get rid of the Dane and when the Visma leader accelerated himself, the White jersey had to give in and follow his own pace in the final kilometers. With that his dream of second position is probably gone, but there's still a good chance to take another stage win in the final time trial.
Evenepoel's teammate Ilan Van Wilder was in charge of the pace until the start of Couillole. "We tried to make the race hard, to wear Vingegaard down a bit and still attack second place. We wanted to gain a few more seconds on the final climb, because we thought he didn't look great yesterday. But we were clearly wrong," Van Wilder admits to WielerFlits. "He was very good today. Certainly no regrets about our race, we did everything we wanted to do but it didn't turn out the way we had hoped. But that's no problem."
Van Wilder is regardless proud of the team's performance. "You can't forget: it was the first Tour for many riders, I'm a young rider and I don't think it's fair that we're compared to a team like UAE Emirates. They're guys who can also ride top 5 in a Grand Tour. That's not a relevant comparison."
Read also
claps 1visitors 1800
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- If Valentino Rossi could never win during his period of dominance, and massive personality, then Pogacar not winning isn't a massive surprise. Cycling isn't a Premier League global sport......only one event reaches the mainstream every year - and that's not good enough.wipperman9519-12-2024
- I don't think it's only a British thing; the biggest talents aren't usually drawn to CX. Where are all the top Italian, French, Spanish, Slovenian CX riders? Apart from Belgium, and Netherlands, it's not really a target for up and coming cyclists - as there's no career unless you move to Belgium. Other countries can't support a proper professional series, like an international sport should be able to do. Lets not forget, since 2016, British riders have won plenty of World championships; with Pidcock, Richards, Tulett & Backstedt all winning more than one..... And, there was a time when Belgium didn't rule the roost in CX; that was Switzerland, but since the advent of XC MTB, their top off-road talents race there instead of CX - and the 2nd raters not good enough for XC MTB, race CX.wipperman9519-12-2024
- "25-34 are only 13% of USA Cyclings membership" Wow. I own a bike shop, and that number comports both with what I see in the business as well as on the road and trails, but it's somehow hugely demoralizing to see it quantified. Thirteen percent?verve82519-12-2024
- What super dutch talent are we talking about?awp18-12-2024
- Yes, 25-34 are only 13% of USA Cyclings membership.awp18-12-2024
- I will take the old days when you could track your teams across 8 years. Can't imagine a new fan finding it easy.Sweep18-12-2024
- Pick better parents and/or better doping agents.
ChoppyWarburton18-12-2024 - The bike industry situation is the same as the future Dutch talent pool discussion , it’s a fakely perceived problem due to an exceptional period that’s come to an end.Mistermaumau18-12-2024
- It's all a part of the fun. Sometimes it takes a few races before you can tell who's who and what's going on.
santiagobenites18-12-2024 - Every year cycling teams force their fans to memorize the jersey colors of all the teams so you can tell which team is doing what in a race. Not like normal sports where the jersey's and numbers mostly stay the same year after year.Sweep18-12-2024