"Plapp was just the stronger rider" - Wilco Kelderman's wait for a World Tour win goes on after stage 8 of Giro d'Italia
Cycling
Wilco Kelderman is somewhat infamously the rider with the most top-10s without ever taking a World Tour win. The Dutchman of Team Visma | Lease a Bike threatened to snap this streak on stage 8 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia this Saturday, but ultimately had to settle for second behind Luke Plapp.
“I actually had a pretty good day,” Kelderman reflected honestly at the finish line in a brief interview with Eurosport after crossing the line 38 seconds down on Plapp, but having won the sprint for 2nd ahead of Diego Ulissi. “But it was tough. I had to respond to a few attacks early on, which already took quite a bit of energy. You hope to be in the right place at the right time, but in the end, Plapp was just the stronger rider.”
According to Cycling Statistics on X (Twitter), Kelderman now has an incredible 159 top 10s at World Tour level without ever managing to celebrate a victory for himself. To truly show the extent of Kelderman's wait for a win, his new tally of 159 is no fewer than 100 more than the next highest current rider in the peloton, Simone Consonni, with Guillaume Martin a close 3rd in the list at 57.
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📊🔝Most top-10s at 🌍WT-level, without a victory:
— Cycling Statistics 📊 (@StatsOnCycling) May 17, 2025
159 | 🇳🇱Kelderman
59 | 🇮🇹Consonni
57 | 🇫🇷Martin
46 | 🇩🇪Walscheid
35 | 🇫🇷Venturini
34 | 🇩🇪Kanter
33 | 🇧🇪Van der Sande
29 | 🇮🇹Pasqualon, 🇧🇪Van Wilder
28 | 🇿🇦Gibbons
27 | 🇮🇹Tiberi, 🇬🇧Wright, 🇫🇷Hofstetter
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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