Wilco Kelderman reveals how far he had to ride at the Giro d'Italia with a broken collarbone

Wilco Kelderman did not start stage four of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday. The Visma | Lease a Bike Dutchman had been caught in the massive crash in stage two — and it has now emerged that he sustained a broken collarbone. That means Kelderman rode one and a half stages of the race in Bulgaria with that fracture.

Kelderman was among the riders caught in the large-scale crash towards Veliko Tarnovo, which also directly or indirectly ended the races of Jay Vine, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Andrea Vendrame (Jayco AlUla) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious). Despite his injury, Visma | Lease a Bike allowed him to start stage three, but ultimately he could not escape the consequences.

He did board the flight to Italy with the rest of the squad, but did not start stage four. Kelderman had been experiencing pain at the junction between his sternum and collarbone — and that suspicion proved well-founded. In a vlog posted by Victor Campenaerts on Instagram, the Belgian confirmed that Kelderman's race was over due to a broken collarbone.

Kelderman himself also spoke briefly in the video. "It is incredibly frustrating to have to leave everyone behind after a good preparation for a major goal like the Giro. But as a rider, you immediately feel when something is wrong and it doesn't feel right," said the climber, who has unfortunately had more than his share of experience with serious fractures.

Kelderman had also crashed in his build-up to the Giro, but ultimately managed to get fit enough to start the race. "It's rubbish, and we're going to miss Wilco enormously over the coming days and weeks — but of course it's the right call," team leader Jonas Vingegaard added at the close of Campenaerts' vlog.