The final day of racing at the Tour de Romandie saw the peloton faced with a challenging 16 kilometre long time trial in and around the town of Fribourg. Featuring a cobbled climb, rolling roads and technical sections, plus some changeable weather conditions; it was sure to be a tricky last stage.

Chad Haga set a good early benchmark time for the team stopping the clock in 23 minutes and nine seconds, before teammate Marco Brenner bettered his run by 11 seconds, with the youngster putting in a good effort to cross the line in a time of 22 minutes and 58 seconds. Felix Gall was next to finish for the team and he put in a respectable ride too; nine seconds behind Haga.

The penultimate Team DSM rider to set off from the start ramp was Ilan Van Wilder and he flew around the opening part of the course, crossing the intermediate check at just five seconds behind leader Cavagna. Riding an exceptionally well measured effort, Van Wilder tamed the technical run in to town before flying up the rise to the line, clocking a superb time of 22 minutes and 12 minutes at the finish to move into a provisional third place on the stage, and a brilliant fourth place come the end of the day.

Thymen Arensman, resplendent in the white jersey as best young rider, rolled out from the start in Fribourg and produced a consistent and solid effort throughout the technical course, eventually crossing the line in a time of 23 minutes and seven seconds. It was a result that sees Arensman secure the jersey for the team alongside a very strong 11th place on GC after a hard week of racing in the Tour de Romandie.

“I went all out in the TT and was able to push over the whole course,” explained Van Wilder after the stage. “It’s a bit of a pity that we missed the podium by less than one second but I’m still very happy with the result today!”

Team DSM coach Marc Reef added: “It was an interesting time trial; it was quite technical, with some difficult descents. The weather also played a role as there were different conditions throughout the course. We did a good preparation and did a good recon with everyone this morning. In the end, we all went for it. All of the guys were within the first 40 on the day result, which is a good indication of how well everyone did today. Ilan was just exceptional; he could push it all the time and paced it in a really good way. To finish fourth after such a hard week and to strike back after yesterday’s mountain top finish is really good. Thymen also did in the end a good job, securing the white jersey and finishing 11th on GC at a WorldTour stage race is a really good result for such a young guy. All in all, I think we can look back on a really good week. Every day we went for our goals and we had quite a lot of good day results and to finish with the white jersey and 11th on GC with Thymen, it’s really good. The guys learned a lot, we focused on the right things and I think we can look back on a really good week. It’s promising for the future.”