Wilco Kelderman came very close to victory in Friday’s 13th stage of the Tour de France. The Team LottoNL-Jumbo youngster was caught only 250 metres before the line after a long flight. He ended up 21st.

“Very sad, I was so close,” Kelderman said immediately after the 198.5-kilometre stage. “On the road, I did not believe that I would fight for the win. The peloton kept the gap small. When we accelerated and they didn’t really close in on us, I started to believe in my chances. On the final climb, I gave all I had and didn’t look back. With only 500 meters to go, I thought about a victory, but when they caught us, I was done.”

Greg Van Avermaet won the stage. The Belgian BMC rider out-sprinted Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) in Rodez on the Côte Saint-Pierre. Paul Martens took a notable fifth place.

“For me, this is a good result,” Martens concluded. “I had to take it easy in the sprint because Robert Gesink was on my wheel and therefore couldn’t jump into every hole, but I’m happy with this result and the fact that Robert finished in a good position.” 

Robert Gesink placed 13th and remains seventh overall. 

Kelderman has been suffering from a back injury since a big crash in the opening week of the Tour de France.

“After my crash, I tried to save as much energy as possible. We picked out some stages to try something, and this was one of them. I don’t think my back will fully recover this Tour, but racing is not a problem now. A little more pain is OK. If your legs hurt, you don’t really feel all the other pain.”

Sports Director Nico Verhoeven was proud of Kelderman. 

“Wilco and the other attackers were great today, they rode very hard. Wilco got in the mix even if he isn’t fully fit -- that’s a positive sign. He is not one-hundred per cent, but he still almost won a very difficult stage in the Tour,” Verhoeven said.

The DS knew there were chances for attackers today.

“The plan was that many of our guys would try and get in the break. You cannot do that with one man. The first group directly proved to be the right one. We’d hoped that the group would be larger, but the peloton didn’t feel the same. Giant kept the break in check and the gap remained small. We thought it was not going to happen for Wilco, but in the end, he came so close. He was stranded with only 250 metres to go. Chapeau for Wilco.”