Despite eight minute gain, Kelderman stresses that "GC doesn’t matter for me anymore"

Wilco Kelderman came to the Giro d'Italia as a podium contender and one of the leaders for BORA - hansgrohe. After his double mechanical and subsequent loss of time at Blockhaus, he was put off contention for the GC. However, after he was given freedom from the peloton today, things might have changed.

In the large group that went up the road, Kelderman was the best positioned. "We knew that today would be a day for the break. I wanted to go for the stage win and we also had a good chance of doing that successfully," he said after the stage.

"I didn't really expect the attacks to start so early and so it was a bit of a surprise when Oldani, Rota and Leemreize broke away from our group," he said regarding the stage fight. He looked in great form on the final ascent of the day, but the stage win was in the group that had attacked earlier in the day. "In retrospect, we may have started too late to bring the trio back and in the end I was only able to fight for fourth place."

"It’s still really far. I think you need to be at one minute to be in the GC so for me I’m just not good enough to fight for the GC anymore... The GC doesn’t matter for me anymore, I’m just not good enough on the long climbs" Kelderman said. Whether this is a bluff or the Dutchman's honest opinion is up for debate, however after today's raid he's gotten himself in the battle once again.

He now sits 13th in the overall classification, 2:51 minutes down on Juan Pedro López. BORA - hansgrohe have hence regained their depth in the GC battle, as the 31-year old joined Jai Hindley and Emanuel Buchmann in the fight for the top places.