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

[Mavic]

Re:

Broken colarbone and a fractured cervical spine (neck vertebra).

Jesus. I don't know what motivates this guy anymore to get back on that bike. I mean, it's not that he's not talented, it's just that his luck, or bike-handling skills rather, is just horrible. I thought Gesink was bad, but this guy takes the cake. Wish him a speedy recovery of course.

 

[Red Rick]

Poor Dumoulin. Gets isolated for Giro in March

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Poor Dumoulin. Gets isolated for Giro in March

Vervaeke will save the day!

(ahaha)

 

[yaco]

Re:

Broken colarbone and a fractured cervical spine (neck vertebra).

Trentin had the same injury in 2018 and missed 2 1/2 months.

 

[Salvarani]

I wonder who they select now instead. Or if they rethink the the schedule for some riders so Tom will have a good team around him, in Giro.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

I wonder who they select now instead. Or if they rethink the the schedule for some riders so Tom will have a good team around him, in Giro.

Sunweb are a weird team with useless protocols and no flexibility. They assign leaders months before races, no matter who is or isn’t in form by then. One would think they’d reschedule Oomen or something, but knowing them they’ll have a reserve list and whoever is on there be in no matter the need in capabilities or fit.

 

[HelloDolly]

When I saw Kelderman come to the front yesterday I knew it would happen ...those tricky roundabouts with him leading the peloton ..aaahhh
Sunweb should have known this was a bad idea

I would say that this will handicap Tom Dumoulin at the Giro but then Tom won without him before and kinda thrives on the lone rider battle stuff
Sunweb seem inflexible though as if an army division

 

[Red Rick]

https://www.ad.nl/wielrennen/dumoulin-mist-belangrijke-knecht-kelderman-niet-naar-de-giro~abbf332a/

No Giro for Kelderman. Needs his neck in a brace for 5 weeks.

 

[Red Rick]

Born in 1991 and already in a class of his own.

While still so young, he already wins mountain stages, hilly stages, time trials, prologues and even mass sprints in the U23 category. The guy seemingly has no weaknesses. Except ofcourse the dutch falling disease.

It's commonly accepted among insiders that the moment Kelderman becomes pro we will forget all about Sagan, Gesink, Hagen, Rolland and other Taaramae's of this world. As Kelderman easily has more talent in his left toe then all others.
We are at the dawn of the Wilco Kelderman-era.

This is his official thread. Better start it early!
Honours
http://www.dewielersite.net/db2/wielersite/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=36834

Boy oh boy oh boy

 

[KZD]

Planning a racing schedule with this guy is almost impossible

 

[Red Rick]

The guy seemingly has no weaknesses. Except ofcourse the dutch falling disease.

Truer words were never spoken.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The guy seemingly has no weaknesses. Except ofcourse the dutch falling disease.

Truer words were never spoken.

Are you gonna quote that every two months?

EDIT: i wrote this before i heard he crashed again in Suisse :Neutral:

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Lengthy radio interview. It's in Dutch obviously, but for those who speak it, i think it's interesting.

Wilco Kelderman: 'Ik ben mentaal heel wat sterker geworden'

De 29-jarige Kelderman kijkt uit naar het wielerseizoen nu hij terug is van ernstig blessureleed.

www.nporadio1.nl

He says all the bad luck and crashes have made him mentally stronger, yet i can't help getting the impression a bit, that he's not far from throwing in the towel. That's probably a bit overstated (due to the lack of a better word.. in Dutch we'd say "een gelaten indruk"), but as if he lost some "hunger". He says he's realistic and doesn't dream about winning the Tour de France. But he would like to battle for a podium again "one day" in a GT. Giro is his favorite race, and from all the things he says, it seems he would like to ride the Giro more than the TDF this year, but on the other hand, after not having raced for such a long time, it's tempting to go to the Tour, because it starts 5 weeks earlier. He also says he'd rather be a leader than a domestique, when asked.

I'm not the biggest follower of Kelderman, but you get the impression that he is a gentle guy, rather emotional, and well, maybe even a bit "down" (emotionally/mentally). I don't know if he's always been like this, and i think i've read things like that before, that he lacks a bit of a fighters spirit, a burning ambition. That he's too much of a nice guy to be a real winner?

 

[Sciatic]

Lengthy radio interview. It's in Dutch obviously, but for those who speak it, i think it's interesting.

Wilco Kelderman: 'Ik ben mentaal heel wat sterker geworden'

De 29-jarige Kelderman kijkt uit naar het wielerseizoen nu hij terug is van ernstig blessureleed.

www.nporadio1.nl

He says all the bad luck and crashes have made him mentally stronger, yet i can't help getting the impression a bit, that he's not far from throwing in the towel. That's probably a bit overstated (due to the lack of a better word.. in Dutch we'd say "een gelaten indruk"), but as if he lost some "hunger". He says he's realistic and doesn't dream about winning the Tour de France. But he would like to battle for a podium again "one day" in a GT. Giro is his favorite race, and from all the things he says, it seems he would like to ride the Giro more than the TDF this year, but on the other hand, after not having raced for such a long time, it's tempting to go to the Tour, because it starts 5 weeks earlier. He also says he'd rather be a leader than a domestique, when asked.

I'm not the biggest follower of Kelderman, but you get the impression that he is a gentle guy, rather emotional, and well, maybe even a bit "down" (emotionally/mentally). I don't know if he's always been like this, and i think i've read things like that before, that he lacks a bit of a fighters spirit, a burning ambition. That he's to much of a nice guy to be a real winner?

Thanks for that summary, very interesting.

 

[HelloDolly]

He could do well at the Giro in GC this year ...so maybe should just stage hunt at Tour and forget GC as wont get a look in...maye top 8th at best

 

[Ranagazoo]

Sunweb aren't exactly filled with GC guys at the moment, would make sense Kelderman riding the Giro for a good GC and sending stage hunters to the Tour.

 

[Red Rick]

If you believe for the first years in the peloton you'll challenge for GTs but instead you alternate as top 10 filler or hospital filler I can really understand you slowly lose motivation.

I think cycling is mentally the toughest sport if you're really struggling.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Wilco Kelderman, a career with ups and downs: “I am more realistic now”

Google Translate

 

[tobydawq]

Not a rider I generally spend much time thinking about but he looked very good yesterday. Then I looked him up and his biggest win is still the overall GC in Post Danmark Rundt in 2013. Quite an unfulfilled talent. Perhaps he can break his WT duck in the Giro (or already in Tirreno)? Or will he crash first and ruin it all again?

 

[BlueRoads]

I wish him well, but I am really not sure what to take from yesterday's results. The best were a weird mix with some that I would not exactly have expected there.
I decided to wait for the next stages, or at least today, to draw any conclusions.

 

[SafeBet]

I hope I'm wrong but this is probably yet another Wilco Kelderman tease so we're all back believing he can podium a GT. I'll wait at least until the second week of the Giro before making any assessment about his chances.

 

[Red Rick]

I hope I'm wrong but this is probably yet another Wilco Kelderman tease so we're all back believing he can podium a GT. I'll wait at least until the second week of the Giro before making any assessment about his chances.

Doesn't have a pretty good record in stages like yesterday in stage races?

If I were Kelderman, I'd aim for the good result in Tirreno rather than go OMG Giro top 5

 

[Velolover2]

He deserves a win. I can't believe he has not won anything in the past 5 years (!?)

He looked like the second strongest rider after Woods on the muro. Took over the chase when Thomas died a bit in the last steep 600 m and still had a sprint left at the finish line.

I hope he can win today. At least from a reduced sprint of GC riders.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The weird thing is Kelderman is really strong in these stages with steep hills. And he has quite a surprisingly good sprint/flat sprint too (for a GC rider). Yet he rarely wins anything.

 

[Red Rick]

Think stages like these come down to strength a bit more.

They showed some velon data on the first climb of that Muro, and Nibali, Froome and Kelderman (I think those were the 3) were all climbing with a cadence of in the 50s.