Wilco Kelderman has ended an 11-year victory drought with a stunning solo triumph in the Dutch National Championships road race, going clear 25 kilometres from home for a long-overdue win.
The Visma-Lease a Bike veteran was a podium finisher in the Giro d'Italia 2020 and has amassed runner-up spots in Grand Tour stages over the years, but his previous win dated from the 2015 National Championships, when he won the elite men's time trial event.
11 years on, Kelderman triumphed once again in the Nationals, starting to forge his long-sought win when he attacked with Tim Marsman (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Darren van Bekkum (XDS-Astana with six laps of 15 left to go on the hilly 160km course centred on the town of Nijmegen.
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He then shed both his rivals in rapid succession for an impressive solo run to the finish, finally ending his record-breaking run of top ten placings without a victory with a full-scale triumph on home soil.
Second, a considerable 1:17 adrift was veteran Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) in his last ever Nationals, whilst Jochem Kerckhaert of the small-scale Continental squad Beat CC p/b Saxo scored a notable success against the WorldTour sides by soloing home for the bronze.
Whilst adamant that he will not be taking part in the Tour de France - "The first time you'll see the national jersey will be in the Tour de Pologne" - Kelderman admitted that he was having trouble realising he'd finally got the win.
“This is a wonderful feeling. It has been a long time since I last won a road stage, I think since my U23 days," he told state broadcaster NOS.
"I have won a time trial before, but never in a way like this. It had to happen eventually. You know, of course, it doesn't always come this easily. This was the day.”
How it unfolded
No sooner had the 160km race got underway than a group of 14 riders including Kelderman, up-and-coming racer Tibor del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Frank van den Broek (Picnic Post NL) and Mollema took to the fore.
With two tough climbs in quick succession mid-way through the circuit, the Van Van Randwijckweg (1.2 km at 6.5%) and the Oude Holleweg (1 km at 7%), each tackled a mere 15 times, the typical Nationals race of attrition evolved. But with 12 teams represented up front, six of them WorldTour, it was always going to be hard for the peloton to get back on terms.
Just as a few riders got across to the front group then with six laps of the 15 to go, rather than risk having too many rivals to control, Kelderman opted for an attack, taking Tim Marsman (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Darren van Bekkum (XDS-Astana) with him. The presence of Visma teammate Huising behind, controlling his rivals, gave Kelderman an extra advantage, and the trio quickly opened a gap of 40 seconds. Van Bekkum, though, was reportedly struggling on the climbs.
Into the final 40 kilometres and Kelderman and Marsman managed to shed Van Bekkum on the umpteenth ascent of the Van Randwijckweg, with the chase group gradually swelling as well. With 25 kilometres left, as hard work by riders like former National RR Champ and Soudal teammates Dylan van Baarle and Pascal Eenkhoorn brought the breakaway to within 30 seconds, Kelderman realised it was a now-or-never opted to go clear.
Now enjoying an advantage of nearly a minute on Marsman, in turn caught by veteran Mike Teunissen (XDS-Astana) and then Mollema, Kelderman was clearly on a roll. His advantage swelled steadily all the way to the finish line, and the series of near-missses finally morphed into a hugely significant victory.
“It wasn’t necessarily my intention to go so early," Kelderman told NOS. "I noticed very quickly that the race was difficult to control and that it was better to sit at the front."
"So I decided to sneak into the attack right away. However, the cooperation wasn’t great, and so another group managed to catch up. I decided to attack again. Of course, you need to have the legs for that, but I had them today.”
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