Wilco Kelderman finally gets his reward with a stunning win at the Dutch National Championships

Wilco Kelderman won the Dutch National Cycling Championship on Sunday. The veteran rider from Visma | Lease a Bike was aggressive from the start of the race and proved to be by far the strongest on the challenging course. He thus won his first national title and first road race victory of his career. Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) finished a considerable distance behind in second place, ahead of the surprise contender Jochem Kerckhaert (BEAT).

After an early start at 9:30 a.m., the men were expected to finish around 1:30 p.m. This time, the heat wasn’t the reason for the change: the NOS is broadcasting both the Dutch National Cycling Championships and the TT Assen. Since the motorcycle race finishes around 4:00 p.m., the cyclists had to start their race early.

So no Mathieu van der Poel, who—after the Tour de Suisse—is focusing entirely on the Tour de France and skipping the Dutch National Championships. The same goes for Olav Kooij. But top riders such as Tibor Del Grosso, Bauke Mollema, Mike Teunissen, Wilco Kelderman, and defending champion Danny van Poppel were in attendance in Nijmegen.

With such a grueling course—the 160-kilometer route featured no fewer than 2,700 meters of elevation gain—a worthy winner was bound to emerge in any case. Early in the day, the attacks were already flying, resulting in a rock-solid breakaway group: Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) found themselves at the front right away.

They were joined by Tim Marsman (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Jelle Johannink, Martijn Rasenberg (Unibet Rose Rockets), Timo de Jong (Picnic PostNL), Ed Uptegrove, Rick Ottema (EEW-VDK), Jochem Kerckhaert, Max Kroonen (BEAT), and Nils Sinschek (Li Ning Star). These weren’t just any names. After forty kilometers of racing, that group opened up a half-minute lead over the peloton.

But it wasn’t over yet, because on the Oude Holleweg—the steep, narrow decisive climb on the course—Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Axel van der Tuuk (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Cees Bol (Decathlon CMA CGM), Rick Pluimers (Tudor), Darren van Bekkum (XDS Astana), and Frank van den Broek (Picnic PostNL) broke away at the front. Up front, the leading group fell apart: it was a grueling race from the very start.

Riders like Dylan van Baarle (Soudal Quick-Step), Tim van Dijke (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Daan Hoole (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) had missed the breakaway and were quickly more than a minute behind. It seemed like a gap that would be hard to close, but they gave it a try anyway: they set off in pursuit.

In the end, Van den Berg and his teammate Jardi Christiaan van der Lee managed to make the breakaway, along with Sjoerd Bax (Pinarello - Q36.5) and Menno Huising (Visma | Lease a Bike). A small group including Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal Quick-Step), Van Dijke, and Hoole also tried to join them, but the front-runners wouldn’t let them. Johannink accelerated first, and then Kelderman countered.

The experienced Dutch rider, who had never managed to win a stage in a road race, opened up a gap. Van Bekkum and Marsman came back from the rear; behind them, the riders were scattered across the course in small groups. A group consisting of Johannink, Huising, Bol, and van den Broek soon had to close the gap by half a minute, while a larger group lost even more time.

At the front, Van Bekkum was clearly the weakest of the three. He had struggled before and was forced to drop back with 40 kilometers to go. Meanwhile, the remaining duo had already built a one-minute lead over the first group of pursuers. Things were starting to look better and better. Kelderman, who had never won a road stage at the pro level, saw a golden opportunity. He took on much of the work himself and later dropped Marsman as well, 27 kilometers from the finish.

With two laps to go, the gap was already more than a minute behind Marsman and Teunissen, who was riding with him, while the large chasing group trailed by well over a minute and a half. Was it still possible to close the gap? Van Baarle, who had rejoined the chasing pack, gave it his all, but couldn’t get any closer.

He was joined by Mollema, Pluimers, Del Grosso, and the astonishing Kerckhaert, but they couldn’t come close to the dominant Kelderman. He won his first national title—and his first race that wasn’t a time trial or a general classification. Behind him, Mollema had pulled away: he rode to the silver, while Kerckhaert was faster than Del Grosso and Pluimers—bronze!