He believes that the public expects a very specific and rigid type of personality from top athletes, which does not reflect reality. “Everyone immediately thinks of someone who is very self confident, strong in his shoes and who never makes mistakes,” he explained. “But we remain human. Everyone is different and I am not going to change my personality to fit into that box.”
Van Wilder started his 2026 season at the UAE Tour. After a good time trial and the first mountain stage, he was sitting in sixth place overall. This result gave him peace of mind after a long winter of training.
“Of course,” he said when asked if he was happy with that position. “You always wonder where you are compared to the competition. Now I can say the feeling is good.”
However, the second mountain test of the season was not that positive for Van Wilder. He suffered a crash on the slopes of Jebel Hafeet and ended up losing 1:17 to Isaac del Toro, the winner of the day. He went down to 11th place, behind his former teammate Evenepoel.
Being the main guy is a big change, but Van Wilder actually got some practice last year when Evenepoel was injured and missed several races. “Last year was already a kind of transition year because Remco was out for a long time,” he noted. “Because of his injury I could ride a lot without him and I had some nice results. I noticed I was able to grow a bit in that role.”
Van Wilder was third at the 2025 worlds time trial
Still much room for improvement
Looking at his skills, Van Wilder sees himself as an all-rounder. He is good at time trials and short climbs, even if he is not a pure climber for the very high mountains. Right now, his goals are one-week stage races. “I think there is still a lot of room for improvement,” the 25-year-old stated. “I have my age on my side. In principle, my best years are only just coming.”
However, he knows his team faces a difficult season. Losing a top rider is a big problem, and the whole squad will need time to adapt to this new situation. “We have to be realistic: it will probably be a transition year for us,” Van Wilder admitted. “Remco is gone. That is a gap you cannot fill in one, two, three.”