Disappointed Wilco Kelderman does not give up: “Still enough to fight for”

Wilco Kelderman broke two spokes on Sunday in the run-up to Blockhaus and therefore had to adjust early on the final climb itself. But actually he knew before that that it would be a difficult story. Due to a far from flawless preparation, he can put away his classification ambitions, but nevertheless he still wants to make the best of it in this Giro d’Italia. “I’m going to try to win a stage and help the team get to the podium in Verona,” said the Dutchman (31) in a one-on-one interview with CyclingFlash.

No, he would rather not have had that rest day after the blow he had to deal with at Blockhaus. “It could be better”, he laughs when we ask how he is doing. “The weather is good, we are in a beautiful place. Monday we drove a quiet round, otherwise nothing special. But to be honest, I would rather not have had that rest day now. You always get stuck in the feeling of the ride before. In my case that is not so very positive. I’d rather ride a new course right away, so that I can quickly forget it. Now you’re talking about it with different people and that feeling doesn’t fade away. †

He took it relatively easy on the boring final climb to Blockhaus, after Kelderman was released. He could think carefully about what had happened to him. “To drop out of the top of the standings like this is not what I wanted. I don’t think I would have been in the top six, but I could certainly have finished around tenth without bad luck. That’s too bad. But luckily it helps that my teammates Jai Hindley and Emanuel Buchmann are in good shape. I can build on that. I’m certainly not afraid to be their foreman either, because they could just take the pink.”

Disrupted preparation
“But in the end I kind of saw it coming,” Kelderman reveals. “That is not only due to the fall in Liège-Bastogne-Liège (where he suffered a minor concussion, ed.). Even through the period before that. Due to all the injuries after the Benelux Tour (where he broke his pelvis and a number of ribs & sustained a deep cut, ed.) I started training quite late last winter. That was only mid-December, so I miss a month – that is eighty hours – training that I normally do. Still, I think that I could have continued the line well without corona (for Ruta del Sol, ed.) and without bronchitis (during his altitude training, ed.), then I would have started the Giro here in good health.”

The classification rider missed a good number of good quality training sessions, which are crucial in working towards top condition. “You know then that it is really difficult to be super good in the Giro. Cycling doesn’t lie. If you want to ride a good classification in a Grand Tour, you must have been prepared to compete with the best. This is not only possible on talent. You always hope to roll through it well, to reach your best level in the last week. But then it shouldn’t matter. If so, that’s a tricky one. As in my case. And then that fall in Liège came over it…”

“That drove me a bit crazy,” says Kelderman. “It all went wrong. At one point I even thought: ‘I’m not even going to be at the start of the Giro’. Still, we did and in the first days I was pretty good too. But then you are still fresh and I always achieve a good level. I do have that class. You only have to be able to sustain that for three weeks, even in the high mountains with very steep climbs. Against little guys who are ten kilos lighter than you. Then it is simply very difficult for me if I am not in the top form that is necessary, to reach the same level as my competitors.”

Doubts about participation
The question arises whether he has not considered giving up for the Tour of Italy at all. “I also had my doubts about that before that fall in Liège. I did not have a flawless preparation and I also discussed it with my trainer. That started before the altitude internship, where I started with a course of antibiotics due to bronchitis. At the time I didn’t know anymore and I discussed it. Cycling is a sport for which you really have to train very hard for many hours. If you are then a week or a week and a half before Pampus and can do nothing, you lose a lot of work. Especially if your base from the winter is smaller.”

At BORA-hansgrohe, the seasonal planning is fairly fixed. If it really couldn’t have been done, Kelderman would have skipped the Giro. “Despite illness, I was still able to train reasonably well at altitude. Against your better judgement, you are going to try it anyway,” he explains. “If I had been at home now, it wouldn’t have been better. Then I would have reluctantly watched TV every day. In the end, I think it was the right choice. Because it’s not that bad anymore, you know. Maybe I just need this round after that relatively short winter. There are also so many goals this Giro, such as reaching the final podium.” With Hindley and Buchmann, that is something that is certainly still in the back of Kelderman’s mind.

Kelderman just before the disaster started – photo: Cor Vos

“I did not achieve my personal goals as I had in mind,” he continues. “But I certainly don’t consider this Giro to be lost yet. I’m not going to drive around soulless for two weeks. There are still opportunities for me to win a stage. Now I’m having a hard time, but I hope that I can jump along in beautiful escapes for the next two weeks. Although it is also an important task to be there for the team. Jai seems to be our best rider right now, but underestimated Emu also not. Especially with that last week in sight. That’s a really light man. He can certainly still shoot himself.”

Trying to win
A stage win would be his first in-line stage win for Kelderman himself. To date, he has won four times as a professional: a time trial three times and the final classification in the Tour of Denmark 2014. He therefore does not have the experience to finish a race. “Gosh, I don’t know if that makes the goal of winning a stage harder. We’ll see!” he laughs. “In any case, it’s a new challenge and I’m sticking to that. I think it’s nice to go for that now. How do I win? I don’t think there is a written rule for that. In any case, it must be difficult. And I’m not very slow either, am I? Of course it has to go well. But I do believe in it. Every difficult stage coming up now is an opportunity for me.”

“I will definitely finish the Giro”, he underlines immediately. “My feeling is not bad. It is also good to finish this Giro towards the future. And why should I get off too? I have nothing significant to stop me from continuing. For the time being, after the Giro, I will only drive the Critérium du Dauphiné, after that it is still unclear. I’m not working on that yet, because the Giro will take too long for that. The idea in the winter was to do the Giro and then look good in the Dauphiné. This combination has been successful in the past, and that is the plan now. There I go again for a classification.”

Kelderman will try to win his first ride in line ever – photo: Cor Vos