"I would also be a little pissed off if I were Kelderman and I saw this interview" - Thijs Zonneveld on Simon Yates' controversial words
Cycling
Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia didn't deliver the same long-distance attacks, however what we did see were all the GC teams that had intentions spend time at the head of the peloton to try to fatigue and test rivals. Amongst those was Team Visma | Lease a Bike, but Simon Yates' post-race interview caused some rumble and Thijs Zonneveld was amongst the critics.
"After all the work, it was actually up to him, but he hasn't been able to do it the entire Giro. He's also been talking to the press like an earworm the entire Giro and then he says that this wasn't according to plan at all," Zonneveld argued in De Waaier podcast. "This is a team meeting I would have liked to attend".
Steven Kruijswijk and Wilco Kelderman did a lot of work in the peloton on the last two climbs, alongside Bart Lemmen who had been in the day's breakaway. This work ultimately did not lead to an attack, but no-one fully tested Isaac del Toro on the Col de Joux.
"I think Visma did what it could, they couldn't have made it much harder. Yates probably didn't want anyone to go ahead and everyone to line up with him. But you have to be so incredibly good as a team for that, Visma rides for Vingegaard in the Tour. Where Kelderman often goes all-out for a few minutes. But this is not the Tour team".
Then on the final climb Richard Carapaz went on the attack, matched by Isaac del Toro, but the Briton didn't have the legs to respond. This led to a meaningful time loss at the end of the day which thinned down his chances of winning the Giro d'Italia, and the disappointment led him to not be happy at the time with the team's tactics, although he was not clear as to why exactly.
"Lemmen and Kruijswijk thinned the peloton to twenty men and Kelderman then to thirteen or fourteen. After that it's the leaders against each other and Yates has to be honest enough that he's not even among the top three climbers in this Giro," Zonneveld says. "So I'm giving Visma the benefit of the doubt in this, but of course it can't be that you're not on the same page as a leader and a team. I would also be a little pissed off if I were Kelderman and I saw this interview".
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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