Wilco Kelderman was able to follow the top favourites for the general classification during the tough fifth stage of the Tour de France today to Le Lioran. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s climber finished 16th and moved up 11th in the general classification. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) soloed to the stage win and grabbed the yellow jersey.

The hilly fifth stage of the Tour de France had a relatively easy first part, but when the peloton reached the final kilometres of the race, teams pushed a high pace.

“I was expecting the top teams to tighten up the race,” Kelderman said. “It didn’t put me into trouble anyway. It was quite steep sometimes, but I was able to find a nice rhythm.”

Kelderman moved to 11th overall after staying with the best climbers. “I’m glad with that,” he continued. “I’m in a good position and it is going well. I want to keep this level.

Hills

“It’s nice that we raced the first hills of the Tour and the first differences are made. We know a little bit more about ourselves and our rivals, and that gives me a good feeling.”

“Wilco felt good today,” Sports Director Merijn Zeeman added. “He just has to follow these days. We’ll know how good he is after the Pyrenees. He’s still aiming for a stage win, but it was never our plan to lose time in the first days of this Tour on purpose. There are many stages to come in which he can make the difference and this week so far is a confirmation that he’s feeling fine.”

Breakaway

Wednesday’s stage was decided from the early breakaway, and some of LottoNL-Jumbo’s men wanted to be part of it. “We tried it with Bert-Jan Lindeman and George Bennett, but we failed, unfortunately,” Zeeman explained. “We’re fed up about that, but we can build on what we showed today. Wilco showed a high level and Dylan Groenewegen was in the gruppetto without any problems.”