Until today, Wilco Kelderman had shown no signs of fatigue in the Criterium du Dauphiné but in the queen stage it seemed that a hard Giro is finally starting to catch up with the talented Dutchman. Crossing the line in 12th, he dropped from 3rd to 4th and admitted that he was not on his best day.

Wilco Kelderman was able to follow the overall leaders until deep into the queen stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné today. In the final kilometres, an attack by Alberto Contador was too much for the Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM captain, however. Kelderman ended up 12th in the stage and lost his third place in the overall to Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew Talansky. The young Dutchman now sits fourth, but still leads the best young rider classification. 

Astana’s Lieuwe Westra won the 168-kilometre stage from Ville-la-Grand to Finaut-Émosson by out-sprinting two Katusha riders in the final 200 metres. 
 

“It was a tough day. On the first climb the race immediately exploded,” said Kelderman. “When a breakaway with Lars Boom broke free, the peloton continued to ride a high pace. Until the penultimate climb, the pace was good for me. With about five kilometres to go, I couldn’t follow anymore. 

“I have to say, I didn’t have my best day. Maybe I’m better tomorrow. I’m going to give my all one more time. I really want to keep that white jersey. That would be awesome.” 

Merijn Zeeman couldn’t be anything but happy afterwards.

“We wanted someone in the break today,” said the sports director. “First Nick van der Lijke tried, eventually Lars succeeded in actually getting away. The rest of the team worked hard for Wilco. In the final, it was an elimination race as expected.

“Wilco is still fourth among the world's best. Tomorrow, I expect a ride similar to today’s. We will give everything we have for the final time. I’m confident that we can hold on to this.”