Valentin Paret-Peintre teammate, winner at the top of Mont Ventoux, Ilan Van Wilder let his rage explode after the victory of the French climber.
Ilan Van Wilder could not hold back his tears on arrival at the top of Mont Ventoux. Fourth in the stage, the Soudal-Quick Step rider was caught up in emotion when hugging his team Valentin Paretrere, brilliant winner of the stage.
And the Belgian could all the more savor this victory that he played a preponderant role in the success of the Haut-Savoyard. Returned to the head runners as the final approaches, he has indeed sacrificed at the top of the group, allowing Valentin Paret-Pintre to focus on Ben Healy.
“Ilan did me a great service”could only agree on the hero of the day, ready to give him the same. But Ilan Van Wilder said he was as happy as if he had won himself. “I am so happy for Valentin and for the team. He told me that he felt very well when I had such good legs. We decided to play his card, he explained. I have no problem riding for someone else. When I saw in the last kilometers that I was not far away, I put back to come back. I came back and I did not hesitate to roll to avoid the return of the yellow jersey. It was incredible, I will never forget this day. »»
“We lived shit days”
This stage victory also gave rise to an amazing rant of the Belgian runner for the press from Overseas. “We have experienced shitty days in recent days. Today, we have shown that we were able because we had a lot of criticism on the level of the team, that we were not strong enough, blah blah blah. So, I say: ‘Go give up because we win on the Ventoux “he launched.
If the Quick-Step experienced a huge disillusionment due to the abandonment of its leader Remco Evenepoel, the success of Valetin Paret-Peintre is already the fourth stage of the Belgian training step after the double of Tim Merlier in the Sprint at the start of the Tour and the success of the former world champion on the first time trial.