Jack Wilson (second here) in action in Belgium earlier this year
Jack Wilson has nipped inside the top 20 in only his second pro race of the year at the Ronde van Limburg in Belgium yesterday.
The 186.5km race – a 1.2 UCI ranked pro event – was decided in a 132-rider massive sprint for the line with first-year U23 Wilson (Ucs Crabbé Performance VOO) at the head of the peloton in the finale and taking a very decent 19th place.
The race was won by former An Post-Sean Kelly rider Kevin Claeys (Landbouwkrediet-Eupony) with Rick Zabel (Rabobank Continental) in second.
“It was on hard roads with a nice few hills thrown in,” Wilson told stickybottle of yesterday’s race.
“It was nearly 190km and flat out from the start, I think we did something like 94km in the first two hours. There were a couple of groups on the road but it all came back together in the last 5km or so.”
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The field featured a number of very good squads including the Lotto Belisol and Rabobank development teams and other established outfits like Topsport Vlaanderen, Marco Polo Cycling and the An Post Sean Kelly team.
The best finisher for the An Post-Sean Kelly team was U23 Tour of Flanders winner Kenneth Vanbilsen in 7th place. None of the Irish riders from the team were in action. They arrived home this morning for the start of the Ras on Sunday.
Yesterday’s race was Irish international Wilson’s second pro race since coming out of the junior ranks; with the Beverbeek Classic early in the season his first event against the big guns.
While he has ridden well in some races this year, his early season was hit by illness but he appears to be coming around properly now.
He rode a three-day race in the Ardennes last weekend where he finished 30th overall, 1:49 down, and seems to have come out of that with good form.
Said Wilson: “I’m feeling a lot better now; pretty much over the sickness so hopefully I can keep building on the form.”
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