Ilan
Van Wilder

New to the team in 2020, Ilan made the step up to the WorldTour after a series of impressive performances in 2019 at U23 level which included third place on GC at the Tour de l’Avenir.

“The team focuses not only classics but also stage races, and the team has a lot of experience with building up talents and young riders. Team DSM also has a great structure and I had a really good feeling with the team when I had my talks with them.”

Hailing from a family that was not into cycling, Ilan’s dad was a football player and tried to get him to follow in his footsteps but Ilan jokingly admits that he did not have the feet to play the sport. Instead, he originally did athletics and swimming from five until 15, but couldn’t commit to the early training sessions needed for swimming.

In the meantime, he started cycling at the age of nine but only did some training rides with his local club for fun, not wanting to take part in races when he was younger because he was “not so good”. However, at 14-years-old he tried his first race and finished within the bunch and caught the bug, competing in a race every weekend thereafter.

“The feeling if you do a good result, have great teammates and are all together at the finish – there is nothing better. I have no problem being either the guy that finishes off a race or being someone that helps out before the finale, as long as the team does well.”

Personable and grounded, Ilan hopes to continue to develop his stage race and time trial abilities with the team, but he also wants to learn more about race craft from the older and more experienced riders.

“In 50 years I want to look back at my career and say that I did everything I could possibly do and have no regrets.”

Away from the bike, Ilan is just like most teenagers and he enjoys spending his downtime watching other sports on TV or a series on Netflix. If not, you can find him out at his favourite café, socialising with friends.