It’s not meant to be! Dubious record remains with Kelderman: "Disappointment quickly gave way to satisfaction"

Monday was a day of near misses for Visma | Lease a Bike. Wilco Kelderman, in strong form, just missed out on victory in the Tour of Poland, as Thibau Nys flew past him with a blistering sprint. Meanwhile, in the Tour de France Femmes, Marianne Vos finished fifth in the opening stage, which ended in a bunch sprint.

Kelderman’s second-place finish further solidified his dubious record of the most top-ten finishes in the WorldTour without a victory, now standing at 153. Despite this, Visma | Lease a Bike looked back on Kelderman’s second place and Jonas Vingegaard’s fourth place with satisfaction. "Our goal this week is to aim for the overall classification with Jonas," said team director Maarten Wynants on the team’s website.

"We rode somewhat conservatively today because we didn’t know where we stood after our performance in San Sebastián last Saturday," explained the former rider, referring to Vingegaard’s less-than-stellar showing in the Basque one-day race. "However, both Jonas and Wilco’s legs turned out to be in good shape. That’s why we made a push to win the stage in the finale. Wilco came very close. It was disappointing at first because he was once again so close to a WorldTour win, but that disappointment quickly gave way to satisfaction. It was a more than positive day for us. Now we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s time trial." The Visma leaders are well-positioned to take the lead from Thibau Nys. Kelderman is just seven seconds behind the Belgian, and Vingegaard trails by sixteen seconds.

Vos doesn’t quite make an impact in the first Tour sprint

The Tour de France Femmes kicked off on Monday with a sprinters' stage to The Hague. Although Vos isn’t a pure sprinter, she took a chance at winning the first yellow jersey. However, she got boxed in during the lead-up to the sprint. "It was a pretty hectic finale," Vos said on the team’s website. "A lot was happening around me, but I stayed focused on delivering the best sprint I could. I was a bit too far back in the final kilometer, which kept me from contesting the victory. I gave it my all, but Kool (Charlotte, ed.) was the fastest today."

Vos’s inability to make a move in the sprint was also influenced by the team’s chosen tactics. The team had focused entirely on following Lorena Wiebes’ wheel, but she was sidelined by bad luck in the final kilometer. "There was a lot of nervousness throughout the stage," said team director Jan Boven. "We had hoped Marianne could compete for the stage win. Our plan was to follow Wiebes’ lead in the sprint, but in hindsight, that wasn’t the best choice today." The Tour continues on Tuesday with two stages: a sprint stage and a short time trial. Visma hopes to make a strong showing in the time trial with Riejanne Markus, aiming for both the overall classification and possibly the stage win.