Until today Wilco Kelderman had shown no signs of weakness in the Giro d'Italia but in stage 15 the Dutchman was clearly suffering. After dropping to places in the overall standings, the Dutchman admitted that he had never had a good feeling on the final climbing.

Wilco Kelderman slipped from fifth to seventh place overall in the Giro d’Italia’s 15th stage today. Stage winner Fabio Aru of Astana and Nairo Quintana of Movistar passed the Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM’s Dutch captain en route to Montecampione. The 225-kilometres stage from Valdengo finished with a 20-kilometre climb to Plan de Montecampione at 1600m. After a quiet start, the race exploded on the col.

“Wilco couldn’t follow the best riders today,” said Sports Director Jan Boven. “He didn’t have his best day and had to dig deep.

“He finished in a group with Cadel Evans and lost only thirty seconds on Rigoberto Uran. Of course, we don’t like that Wilco loses two places, but after the past few days, we knew that Aru and Quintana were very good uphill. We knew that they were coming for us in the overall.”
 

Kelderman had a hard time on the final climb.

“At the foot I almost crashed after someone hit my handlebar with his saddle. I lost some focus. Ultimately, I got through it, but I never really got that good feeling back.

“When those men attacked, they proved to be too strong. I rode at my own pace, and it’s super that I crossed the line in a group with Evans. I knew that it would be hard to hold onto my fifth place. There is little to worry about. A top ten finish remains my goal. That’s the most important thing.”
 

After tomorrow’s rest day, the peloton clicks back into gear on Tuesday with a very tough stage that leads the pack over both the Gavia and the Stelvio passes.

"Tomorrow, we’ll sleep in, do a training ride, get a massage and rest some more,” said Boven. “We know that a tough task is ahead of us on Tuesday.”

“I’m looking forward to the rest day,” said Kelderman. “I don’t know how it is going to be on Tuesday, because I’ve never experienced such a hard stage.”