Wilco Kelderman crashed during the eighth stage of the Tour de France today. His tube came loose from his wheel on the descent of the Col de Val Louron-Azet and he slipped away. He and George Bennett were able to return in the front before the Col de Peyresourde, but Kelderman lost 1 minute and 45 seconds afterwards.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) won the stage and grabbed the yellow jersey.

The tough stage through the Pyrenees to Bagnères-de-Luchon ran quite smoothly for Team LottoNL-Jumbo. Kelderman and Bennett were able to maintain their positions among the overall favourites ahead of the final climb.

“Today, it was my turn for the first time,” Bennett said. “I didn’t enjoy the first week of the Tour de France, because it wasn’t quite my terrain, so I was looking forward to today. I’m happy with how it went and I’m happy with my form.”

The tables turned on the penultimate descent of the stage, when Kelderman crashed.

“We’re riding on very small climbing wheels,” Bennett continued. “It looked like Wilco’s wheels were so hot that his tube loosened. The glue was totally melted and I burned my hands on it when I grabbed the wheel.”

‘This is frustrating’

“It was hot today and you have to brake on a lot during the descents,” Kelderman said. “The glue on your tyre gets very hot and there’s a chance that it gets loose. I’m fed up that it happened to me. Everything went very well until that moment. I didn’t lose too much time, but I have a lot of abrasions. This is very annoying.”

“The last thing we want is a crash,” Sports Director Merijn Zeeman added. “This is a big setback.

“Before Wilco’s crash, everything seemed to go very well. George Bennett was with him and helped him a lot. We were already thinking about the final climb. This is frustrating.”