One of the most improved riders of the 2014, Wilco Kelderman, returned to action at the Tour of Utah following his impressive performances in the Giro d’Italia and Criterium du Dauphine in the first part of the season. The 23-year old Dutchman aims to use the American event as a build-up towards his debut at the Vuelta a Espana, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see him animating the action in the mountains already this week.

Kelderman set the Vuelta a Espana his biggest objective for the second part of 2014 season and even though he claimed to be uncertain about his disposition at the Tour of Utah following a month-long rest period, expectations are high after he proved his ability to match best climbers in the Giro and Dauphine.

"We already spent two-and-a-half-weeks here, so normally it should be good," he said. "But of course the Vuelta is going to be the big goal. This is a really hard stage race, so I hope to be good in the hard stages. We trained not really hard, but really long. Normally I need some race rhythm, so we'll see in the hard stages how good I am. Hopefully I'm good enough to win."

Held at high altitudes, the Tour of Utah was successfully used as a perfect build-up towards the Vuelta by last year’s winner Christopher Horner (Lampre-Merida), and while the Belkin leader hopes to prepare just as well for the Spanish grand tour, he modestly targets top ten in the general classification of the star-studded event.

"It's a hard race, and it's good preparation for the Vuelta," he said. "It's also at altitude, so it's really good for us."

"I hope to be for sure in the top 10 [at the Vuelta]," Kelderman said. "And maybe I will go for a stage win or something."