Wilco Kelderman blames disc brakes for his crash at Giro

The Dutch riders crashed heavily on Stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia, losing over 11 minutes to the leader on Sunday. Kelderman dropped to 24th place in the general classification, and blamed disc brakes for his crash.

“On the descent to the final climb I rode a spoke out of my wheel”, Kelderman explained to AD. “I think that spoke got too hot, it just popped, because of the pressure. This just sucks.”

Kelderman said it was a “super-fast descent’ and had to change bikes twice. “Then I was already on the rivet for the climb,” he said. “It wasn’t my day. Of course I’m very disappointed.”

Jai Hindley wins exhausting Giro stage atop the mighty Blockhaus, Yates cracks

After crashing in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Kelderman almost had to miss the Giro. The rider was third at the Tour of Italy in 2020, so he was looking forward to getting back into the thick of things. “Physically it’s okay, here and there I have a few aches and pains,” he said after his fall. “The Giro is not over yet. My preparation for this Giro just wasn’t good. Then you hope it’s good enough in the race, but I already knew it was going to be difficult.”

Kelderman did add he was very happy for his teammate Jai Hindley who took the victory on Sunday finishing on the very difficult Blochaus climb. Jaunpe Lopez (Spain/Trek-Segafredo) did everything he could to keep the pink jersey.