I'm hoping he moves up in the GC. I loved that he had that powerful sprint kick at the finish line. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed cause QS has had so many bad results and bad luck this year.
-
The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to
In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.
Thanks!
I have followed his Strava and his training was not nearly as intense as that of Evenepoel, even if they went on the same trainingcamps in Tenerife. He didn't prepare for those same kind of efforts, so he should follow his own pace. Even more so since he is a bit like Almeida in that regard. Needs to find his own rhythm. Following Roglic with this preparation at this moment in his career should not be the goal, especially the day after having been in the break and not conserving energy. If he can finish top 15 in stage 13, it will be a good day. After that, he can see how he feels and how likely he is to move up in GC in the final week, or whether to go for stages. Maybe his legs will decide for him tomorrow.
GC riders are bound to experience all out efforts in consecutive stages at some point so even if he spent a lot of energy yesterday I expect him to either get in the break again or be up there with the maglia rosa group until there's only 10-15 left. This is a very good test for him. Despite his imperfect preparation I believe the third week will tell us something (good) about his recovery.
First of all he should be healthy. If he isn't ATM then waiting for third week. If Rogla is not reachable then wheelsuck Almeida. On one of the hard mountain stages. If he can do that it should be beneficial for his future career. In regards to GC ambitions.
Yesterday he did the final climb top to bottom with everyone in his wheel. He started in group 4 and finished in group 2. Closing Formolo and Bettiol while he had been one of the most active riders in the break all day, on day 12. Set the KOM (with Hessmann in his wheel). He then won the sprint as well. It's looking good in terms of recovery but we should expect it to have an impact regardless the next day. Not sure the stage getting cut in half is good news for him.
He's now within 6-7 minutes in GC. Don't know if they will allow him in the break again. Jumbo and Ineos might not care, but maybe some other teams don't want to give up a top 10 spot.
In today's stage the commentators were very uninformative. What happened to Van Wilder towards the end? I noticed he lost a few seconds to the Roglic group.
Yep, but to be honest, he managed better than i had hoped after yesterday. If he can keep this level or even improve (relative to the others) he could still aim for a top 10. I think the MTT should also suit him better than some guys ahead of him. We'll see.
I think he's top10 material here but might end up outside of it if someone else gains time with a break.
He should aim for another break himself even if with likely no teammates to help him a stage win wouldn't be easy.
By now about any rider that can climb decently is top-10 material here. So of course Ilan is too-10 material.
His moral is said to be very low, and now with Ballerini also stepping out of the Giro it hasn't improved. It looked like he was through the worst of it the past few days, as he also looked to be in good shape and looked lively in interviews. I hope he can find the motivation, and focusses on the opportunities instead of the negative things.
Nice one, he also wasn't just hanging on but actively pacing in G3.
I hope he's happy for him too.
He did a good job today, only gained 1 place, but made up time to at least 4 guys ahead of him in GC. Leknessund, Armirail, Buitrago and Pinot. I think it's still possible, but he's only 15th in GC for now.
Van Wilder needs to hope that the following 2 mountain stages (definitely Friday) will be made super hard so that the gaps will be big cause that's the only way he will be moving up enough in GC to come out of this with a really good GC. He's getting stronger by the day. Great to see.
I don't know why he seems so miserable in every interview tho. I get that he was here for Remco but this is perfect for his career. He's showing he really should be getting his own chances. And Lefevere can complain about his management that they want a clausule for it in his contract, but they're rightfully asking for it.
I don't know why he seems so miserable in every interview tho. I get that he was here for Remco but this is perfect for his career. He's showing he really should be getting his own chances. And Lefevere can complain about his management that they want a clausule for it in his contract, but they're rightfully asking for it.
Another decent result today but without an attack he's not going to make up the 4 or 5 minutes needed to slip into the top 10, I fear. Overall a great showcase for him this Giro where he was able to prove his worth and get more chances for himself in the future.
But let's not go overboard here. We had a lot of potential gc riders drop out and Van Wilder is now able to stay with the 10 best remaining. Meaning somewhere around top 20 in a "normal" field. In my opinion that is pretty much what you'd like your super dom to be. Good enough to challenge the top 10 if everything goes right but not that crazy that he can demand his own leadership role in a GT.
But let's not go overboard here. We had a lot of potential gc riders drop out and Van Wilder is now able to stay with the 10 best remaining. Meaning somewhere around top 20 in a "normal" field. In my opinion that is pretty much what you'd like your super dom to be. Good enough to challenge the top 10 if everything goes right but not that crazy that he can demand his own leadership role in a GT.
Tbf he took it easy in the second ITT, he would be looking much better for a top 10 otherwise. He’s also the youngest rider in the top 30, so it’s not like he doesn’t have room to grow either. Not a future GT winner, but definitely someone who can make top-5s in the future, which would merit a leadership role in most teams.
Sure. I see the potential is there. But at this moment in time nobody would take Van Wilder to lead them in a GT. Like I said, hes shown his worth and should get more opportunities like Algarve to ride for himself. But in the biggest races he'd still be a helper to the likes of Evenepoel or Alaphilippe. For now at least. Who knows if he can step it up even further the next few years?
His aim for stage a1 should be to get in the breakaway - He'll be hard to beat if the breakaway wins the stage.
Why on earth should he work for Alaphilippe exactly? He's closer to taking a big win than Alaphilippe is atm. Imho the latter has more to prove right now than Van Wilder. Ala always gets full team support, yet the return on investment has been meagre to put it mildly in the past 2 seasons.
There have been two instances where he wasn't able to follow in week 1, after which there was no use in trying to finish as close as possible because he wasn't riding for GC. He lost more than 3 minutes in the 2nd TT to the riders where you would otherwise expect him to be, like Barta, De Plus, Mollema because he needed to save energy to work for Evenepoel. He has no team to work for him, maybe had he had a full support team, they would not have let Pinot and Rubio go in a break 900 times to take back minutes upon minutes. He could otherwise have been in the top 10 already even without the time he took back himself.
There are 22 teams at the Giro, and yet there are only riders of 9 different teams ahead of him. I don't think anybody is expecting Evenepoel to be working for him anytime soon. But he could definitely lead a team and certainly in a GT like the Vuelta. His preparation was that of a domestique, he didn't do the same intensity training that Evenepoel did for instance. He just turned 23 last week. He has always focussed on the long term, not on quick results. Look at the progress Vingegaard and Dunbar still made at that age or later. Do you figure him worse than Kämna who is also 3 years older and 6th in GC? I don't.
I think it's fair to say that he is at the deficit now, that he would have been had he been riding for GC from the start. He lost time in week 1 and in the 2nd TT that he would not have lost, but he was also able to take back 6 minutes in a breakaway in week 2 because he was no threat in GC then. I feel like that evens things out. But there are guys ahead of him who are only there because they were allowed to go in the break multiple times, Rubio, Armirail and Pinot.
I also think if he doesn't blow up in the next two days, that he could very well be in the top 10. Not a lot has to happen, because i expect the gaps on day 20 will be huge and i expect him to take a lot of time on some of the guys ahead of him.
Bonimenier
BANNED
Twice even.
Anyway, he has a lot of margin to improve. The way he trains, the way he eats, the fact that he has lost a lot of time at DSM... he hasn't been preparing to ride a GT for GC at all yet.
I don't understand why he's so scared to try to go in a break tho. He keeps saying it's too much risk, but he has nothing to loose, and he also said earlier they wouldn't let him go which is just not true given who was let in breakaways this Giro. Like top 10 was and still is really hard for him if he doesn't go in a break. It's probably too late now. He can hope Leknessund completely cracks (Armirail shouldn't be a problem) and that he can put 2 minutes into Rubio I guess.
Whut? Half the WT teams and some good PCT teams literally would give them leadership in a GT.
Whut? Half the WT teams and some good PCT teams literally would give them leadership in a GT.
Last edited:
TRENDING THREADS
-
Teams & Riders The Remco Evenepoel is the next Eddy Merckx thread- Started by DNP-Old
- Replies: 29K
-
Teams & Riders The Great Big Cycling Transfers, Extensions, and Rumours Thread- Started by RedheadDane
- Replies: 11K
-
Teams & Riders Tadej Pogačar discussion thread- Started by Lequack
- Replies: 23K
-
-
-
Teams & Riders Everybody needs a little bit of Roglstomp in their lives- Started by johnymax
- Replies: 19K
-
Teams & Riders Jonas Vingegaard thread: Mountain Sprinter- Started by Samu Cuenca
- Replies: 7K
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram