LottoNL Jumbo rider Wilco Kelderman placed 10th in the opening time trial of the Tour de Suisse. Fabian Cancellara won over 6.4 kilometres in 7'38", Kelderman finished in 7'48".

"We looked at the weather forecast and then decided to let Wilco Kelderman start around half past four and Robert Gesink later in the race,” said Sport Director Jan Boven. Although they both raced in dry conditions, the road was still wet. The team leaders did not take risks.

Gesink approached a collapsing advertising banner, but did not pay for that. "No, the collapsing banner was not an influence,” added Boven. “Gesink had to stop but it has made no difference. Gesink is not a specialist in these short time trials and he set good time for his level.

“Kelderman is in good shape so that's good for the next few days. Overall, I’m very pleased with the team, we had four men in the top 20: Bram (20th) has good shape from the Giro, Bert-Jan (18th) shows that his TT training pay off and Paul (12th). "

Kelderman finishes 10th

Kelderman finished 10 seconds behind Cancellara. "My legs are fine, so I'm very happy, but unfortunately, the road was so wet that I took less risks.“

In the Tour de Romandie time trial, Kelderman crashed in a wet corner. "During the ride, you don’t think about that think that, but beforehand, I saw that the road was wet and thought that I do not want to fall like in Romandie. Tomorrow, we should see a small peloton sprint, but later in the week we hit the hills, and I can not wait to start them." 

Gesink was 21 seconds behind Cancellara. "Such a short prologue has never been my thing,” he said. “I usually feel the altitude training pay off after a couple of racing days, so I hope to be good towards the end of the Tour de Suisse."

Last month, Gesink decided to focus Tour de France classification. "Just like in the Tour, I also want to ride a good classification here so that I can have more confidence for the Tour."

Tomorrow

"The weather forecast is very bad for tomorrow, and when it rains here, it comes down hard,” Boven added. The course covers a circuit of around 47 kilometres, which must be completed four times. "There is a climb in each circuit and that will probably ensure that we will not sprint with a full squad for the stage victory. It remains to be seen which teams will make the hard currency."