Visma-Lease a Bike had plenty to celebrate at Paris-Nice on Sunday, with Matteo Jorgenson sweeping up the yellow jersey of the overall race winner but for their second card at the race and key domestique, Wilco Kelderman, the final moments of the race didn't turn out so well.
The Dutch rider could be seen crossing the line on a blue Shimano neutral service bike with ripped-up kit. The 32-year-old crashed close enough to the line that he held onto his eighth place overall, as while he crossed the line in 21st, he was ultimately given a time of 2:13 behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) on the final day of racing.
Still, while the incident didn't have any impact on the victory at Paris-Nice for Visma-Lease a Bike, there will now be recovery from a collarbone fracture to factor into his race plans, which had included the Ardennes Classics and the Giro d'Italia.
"Unfortunately, Wilco Kelderman fractured his collarbone in a crash in the final stage of Paris-Nice," said Visma-Lease a Bike in a post on social media. "Today he successfully underwent surgery. We wish him a good recovery."
It is the second year running that Kelderman, who started his season in February at O Gran Camiño, has had to deal with a preparation-disrupting injury ahead of the Giro d'Italia.
A crash at Tirreno-Adriatico in 2023 forced him to pull out of the planned altitude camp that year which meant "that he will not be optimally prepared for the start of the Giro, so he will be replaced" said the team at the time while subbing Sepp Kuss into the squad.
Kelderman instead lined up at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in 2023, helping support the team during two of their victories en route to a Grand Tour clean sweep season.
There was no comment from the team in the post on what the injury could mean for Kelderman's season and participation in the Giro d'Italia – running from May 4 to May 26 – where the team has foreshadowed that they will be chasing stage victories with Wout van Aert and the overall with Cian Uijtebroeks.
Kelderman, who came third overall in the 2020 Giro d'Italia, has had to face a considerable run of injuries throughout his career. He also broke his collarbone at a Tirreno-Adriatico crash in 2018 and then again the next year at the Volta a Catalunya, which also spoiled his Giro plans that season while at Team Sunweb.
In 2021 Kelderman had to contend with both concussion and a fractured vertebrae after being driven into by a car while training at the start of the season and then near the end of the season a Benelux Tour crash left him with fractures to his pelvis and multiple ribs.
