Dutch National Championships: Wilco Kelderman ends eleven-year victory drought with solo road race triumph

Dutch National Championships: Wilco Kelderman ends eleven-year victory drought with solo road race triumph

June 28, 2026

Wilco Kelderman has ended an 11-year victory drought with a stunning solo triumph in the Dutch National Championships road race, going clear 25 kilometres from home for a long-overdue win.

The Visma-Lease a Bike veteran was a podium finisher in the Giro d’Italia 2020 and has amassed runner-up spots in Grand Tour stages over the years, but his previous win dated from the 2015 National Championships, when he won the elite men’s time trial event.

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Second, a considerable 1:17 adrift was veteran Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) in his last ever Nationals, whilst Jochem Kerckhaert of the small-scale Continental squad Beat CC p/b Saxo scored a notable success against the WorldTour sides by soloing home for the bronze.

Whilst adamant that he will not be taking part in the Tour de France – “The first time you’ll see the national jersey will be in the Tour de Pologne” – Kelderman admitted that he was having trouble realising he’d finally got the win.

“This is a wonderful feeling. It has been a long time since I last won a road stage, I think since my U23 days,” he told state broadcaster NOS.

“I have won a time trial before, but never in a way like this. It had to happen eventually. You know, of course, it doesn’t always come this easily. This was the day.”

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Just as a few riders got across to the front group then with six laps of the 15 to go, rather than risk having too many rivals to control, Kelderman opted for an attack, taking Tim Marsman (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Darren van Bekkum (XDS-Astana) with him. The presence of Visma teammate Huising behind, controlling his rivals, gave Kelderman an extra advantage, and the trio quickly opened a gap of 40 seconds. Van Bekkum, though, was reportedly struggling on the climbs.

Into the final 40 kilometres and Kelderman and Marsman managed to shed Van Bekkum on the umpteenth ascent of the Van Randwijckweg, with the chase group gradually swelling as well. With 25 kilometres left, as hard work by riders like former National RR Champ and Soudal teammates Dylan van Baarle and Pascal Eenkhoorn brought the breakaway to within 30 seconds, Kelderman realised it was a now-or-never opted to go clear.

NOS. “I noticed very quickly that the race was difficult to control and that it was better to sit at the front.”

“So I decided to sneak into the attack right away. However, the cooperation wasn’t great, and so another group managed to catch up. I decided to attack again. Of course, you need to have the legs for that, but I had them today.”