On Monday, Wilco Kelderman was named Ducth cycling talent of 2014. Next year the Belkin rider hopes to be one of the nominees for the title as Dutch rider of the year.

Immediately after the announcement of his title as best talent, Wilco Kelderman talked about his surprise

"I am no longer a U23 rider," the rider who finished 7th in the Giro d'Italia, told CyclingOnline before giving his explanation. "I had never won the prize and so I was in contention for this Gerrie Kneteman Trophy. I am also happy because I had never won it before - in the U23 category I always missed out - and now I can add it to my palmares."

In 2015, the Dutchman is hoping to get rid of the talent predicate.

"The Tour de France is my absolute main goal. I think I'm ready to start this race but I am also looking forward to starting the race in my own region. I grew up in Barneveld and now live in Veenendaal. The area near Utrecht is aprt of my training rputes. Of course my terrain comes later in the Tour de France, but I hope to do a nice time trial in the opening TT in Utrecht. I am improving in the time trials and Bianchi have also improved our time trial bikes," says Kelderman, referring to problems with the time trial bike in the Tour de France for Bauke Mollema.

While he will not do the Giro d'Italia in 2015, Kelderman may be at the start of the Vuelta a Espana.

"But that is something that I will decide after the Tour," he said. "Then you know whether you are physically and mentally able to do another grand tour. This year the Vuelta was a bit of a revenge for a failed Tour for many rider. In that case it is better for me not to hope to ride the Vuelta a Espana. But at the moment I am mainly looking forward to the Tour de France. I will ride the Dauphiné to prepare."

His first season goal is Paris-Nice and he will make his debut at the Volta ao Algarve or the Ruta del Sol. After the Race to the Sun Kelderman will focus on the classics. He has the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège on his preliminary race calendar for 2015. 

"I want to ride the Amstel Gold Race I want to ride even though I wonder whether I can really excel with all that twisting and turning," he said. "The Ardennes are better. I have become more explosive. But Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a very long race. I am very curious to see how far I can get, but my real ambitions lie mainly in the stage races. I'm going for the podium in the smaller stage races and top 10 in the grand tours. This is ambitious but I am still improving and hope to continue the upward trend. It can be a great season if I can fulfill my ambitions."