Teams & Riders The official Wilco Kelderman is the new Merckx-thread

[pablohidalgo7]

Re:

He certainly won't ride Vuelta.

It's really too bad he crashed in the Dauphine and had back problems. Then he was good in the Tour again (9th in the opening ITT) and then crashed again 4 times and hurt his back. I wanted to know what his level was like, but it didn't happen.

He seems to be improving in the TTT and later in the breakaway, but he was again so bad in the alps, perhaps the back issue is more serious than they think.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

the back issue only plays a role when he goes uphill. E.g. he has to use power from his back to climb. On the flat there is no issue

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Extrange season for wilco. I expected him to be in the top 10 yesterday, he was strong in canadian races and he also seems to be good in the TTT...

He should do the italian classics, he has less than 70 race days in his legs.

 

[Ruby United]

Time to change the thread title to
"The official Grand tour top 5 hopeful Wiloc Kelderman in the new Jurgen Van den Broeck thread"

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Time to change the thread title to
"The official Grand tour top 5 hopeful Wiloc Kelderman in the new Jurgen Van den Broeck thread"

Dutch newcomers of Merckx never fail to amuse me. I honestly think its a disease when a country with that many talented (young) riders year after year is ending up with Bauke MOCHEMA as the best rider.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gesink beat him in the Tour though

i agree kelderman had a off year though, only dutch itt and prologue tdf were decent.
The 2 GT's in 2014 were too much. Same happened with a young Kreuziger.

We'll see next year if he can recover. He is not satisfied with his season himself as well.

 

[Ruby United]

Re: Re:

Time to change the thread title to
"The official Grand tour top 5 hopeful Wiloc Kelderman in the new Jurgen Van den Broeck thread"

Dutch newcomers of Merckx never fail to amuse me. I honestly think its a disease when a country with that many talented (young) riders year after year is ending up with Bauke MOCHEMA as the best rider.

Lol
If that country messes up Doumolin......

 

[Kwibus]

Well the country went full Dumoulin-***.

He is going to win a GT, he is going to win the WC TT etc. No nuance, no realism.

I hope he can distance himself from all that crap.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Disappointing season yes. Hopefully he'll bounce back next year and perhaps he will indeed the next Axel, though he'll have to improve quite a bit.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

First sign of life in 2,5 years?

 

[May0maniac]

First sign of life in 2,5 years?

Almost 2 years, the last one was the 2014 Dauphine.

 

[pablohidalgo7]

WTF!!

I don´t believe it, the team said that wilco should go slowly in this race due to his recent illness

 

[Cance > TheRest]

I've never seen him climb better than yesterday. Perhaps only the way he rode on Col du Béal in Dauphine 2014 is slightly remniscent of a such level.

A shame for him, that the ITT isn't more flat though. Would have been perhaps the biggest favourite in PV then.

 

[del1962]

Finishes in front group, hope he hold the jersey tomorrow?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

If he's still within a shot after tomorrow he has a decent chance. In this type of shape and with this length of time trial he should do really well there

 

[Kwibus]

Yesterday after the race he said that he felt really strong and when I read that I pretty much predicted that he would get dropped today.

It's always like that with this guy. I don't know why, but when he starts to talk and say he's good then he usually gets dropped.

 

[Lequack]

I think today he had a crash so with that in mind he didn't do too bad.

 

[carolina]

He had some blood on his right knee during the last climb.

 

[Pentacycle]

Wilco has talent, but he can only become a top rider when he stops his crashing spree.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Wilco has talent, but he can only become a top rider when he stops his crashing spree.

Yep, but i do not think he'll ever stop crashing. It's something which has been his bad point in the juniors and espoirs. The guy falls a lot.

Staying on your bike is a skill too.

 

[pablohidalgo7]

It´s strange because Wilco has some skill with the bike, he is good in tricky TT with curves.
Today crash according to the team report, it was also a bit of a mistake by Campenaerts.

 

[SoigneurNL]

If he keeps this up he can winTdS, would be good for him to get a GC win.

 

[BigMac]

Tom Dumoulin on the Rettenbachferner all over.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Tom Dumoulin on the Rettenbachferner all over.

Difference being that was expected, this wasn't

Its more like Pais Vasco all over. Does he simply need legs or it is something mental?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Might be stress, or just the 3rd day in a row in the mountains. Even the Giro he did so well in he was weaker in the consecutive mountain stages (like the 2nd or 3rd in a row).

Still, he has done much better than last year. So there's still a lot of positives to take from this. But not really good enough to be a TDF leader. I think Lotto has made a wise choice to bring a Groenewegen sprint train.