‘I was getting a little tired of it’ - Van Wilder reveals strain of racing under Evenepoel spotlight

For years, Ilan Van Wilder’s role in Grand Tours was largely shaped by the ambitions of Remco Evenepoel.

Protect the leader, avoid mistakes and make sure nothing threatened the plans of one of Belgium’s biggest sporting stars. At this Tour de France, that responsibility has disappeared.

With Evenepoel having left Soudal Quick-Step and Mikel Landa not competing, Van Wilder has started a Grand Tour without his former Belgian teammate for the first time. The change has brought a noticeably different atmosphere.

“This is my fifth Grand Tour and the first without Remco. That makes it different,” Van Wilder told Het Laatste Nieuws.

“A lot of the stress has gone. Everything is a little freer and more relaxed. We no longer carry that heavy responsibility every day, where nothing is allowed to go wrong.”

Van Wilder stressed that his comments were not criticism of Evenepoel himself. His frustration concerned the expectations that surrounded the former world champion, particularly within a Belgian team backed by Belgian sponsors and followed closely by the national media.

“Honestly, I would not like to be in Remco’s team,” he said. “And I do not mean that negatively.”

“But those enormous expectations, particularly in our case with a Belgian team, Belgian sponsors and the Belgian media, and constantly racing under a magnifying glass, I was getting a little tired of it.”

The reduced pressure has given Van Wilder a rare opportunity to pursue his own result.

He sits 13th overall after almost two weeks of racing, 12 minutes and 43 seconds behind Tadej Pogačar and just over six minutes outside the top ten. Van Wilder is not presenting himself as a future Tour winner, but he wants to discover what he can achieve when his own position is no longer secondary.

“I want to give the general classification a chance and see where I can finish,” he said. “In this Tour, with this level of competition, a top ten is worth a top five.”

The 26-year-old accepts that the podium, and perhaps even the top five, may be beyond his reach for now. The places just behind the leading contenders, however, remain a realistic target.

“I am not the general classification rider who can aim for the top five, let alone the podium,” he said. “But from sixth place onwards, a lot is possible.”

The Belgian hopes to be given the freedom to join a breakaway later in the Tour, allowing him to regain time and move up the general classification.

“Hopefully I get some freedom to slip into a breakaway, take back some time and move up a few places,” he said.

For now, Van Wilder is unwilling to sacrifice his general classification position in pursuit of a stage victory. That option will remain open later, while rebuilding an overall challenge after deliberately losing time would be far more difficult.

“The switch to racing for a stage victory is one I can still make,” he said. “The reverse is more difficult if you decide in the first week to deliberately give away time.”

That challenge has only grown as the overall level of the peloton has risen.

“In the past, if you could produce six watts per kilogram for a longer period uphill, you were guaranteed to reach the top with a select group of general classification contenders,” Van Wilder said.

“Now there are easily still 40 or 50 riders. It shows how much the overall level has risen in recent years.”

Van Wilder is unsure whether he can sustain the focus and energy required for a general classification challenge all the way to Paris, but he intends to continue until his body tells him otherwise.

“I will keep fighting for the general classification for as long as possible, until my body tells me it cannot go on,” he said. “Then we will see.”

Soudal Quick-Step’s three stage victories through Tim Merlier have removed some of the pressure to deliver another result.

“Everything that comes on top of that is pure bonus,” Van Wilder said.

Without Evenepoel to ride for, Van Wilder can finally find out where his own ambitions might take him.