At the Giro d'Italia, Wilco Kelderman will lead Bora-Hansgrohe, aiming for the podium or better in May.

The Dutchman will be accompanied by Jai Hindley and Emmanuel Buchmann in May, with the team sending its strongest GC team to race in the peloton.

Kelderman finished third in the DSM in 2020, one place behind teammate Hindley, and the duo lost to Ineos Grenadiers' Tao Geoghegan Hart on the final day of the Grand Tour in October, which was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the preseason training camp at Bora-Hansgrohe in Spain, Kelderman, who finished fifth in last year's Tour de France, said he is excited to return to the Giro next year, especially as part of such a strong group.

"I'm very excited. During this off-season I've been thinking about what my motivation is and what I want to do for next season.

"I think the team is perfect right now with three captains. I've already run with Jai and have a great relationship with Emmanuel. We're going to do it in the best way possible, with a strong team of climbers and big goals. I'm really excited to be a part of this project."

Kelderman cited his successful past with Hindley in 2020 as a reason why he can succeed this year. Buchmann, meanwhile, has a fourth-place finish in the Tour and held sixth place overall in last year's Giro, but was forced to abandon the race after a group crash on stage 15.

"Looking back in the past, me and Jai were already on the podium. I think we proved in the Giro that we can be on the podium. We proved that the podium is one of our goals and we are definitely going for the win. It will be difficult, but I think my main focus is to get on the podium in the Giro."

Kelderman suggested that he felt his fifth place at the 2021 Tour, 10 minutes behind winner Tadej Pogachar, was the limit of what he could achieve there.

He noted that the Giro suited him better for various reasons, adding that it would be difficult for Beulah Hansgrohe to compete for the GC podium while supporting returning sprinter Sam Bennett, who is seeking a sprint victory and a second green jersey.

"Personally, I didn't have much motivation going into the Tour, because last year I was fifth, but I didn't really enjoy it.

"That's why I like races like the Giro. It's a little less stressful, it's colder, and there are more mountain stages. The team has a good sprinter, Sam, who can win the green jersey at the Tour. So we have to split the team a little bit in the Grand Tour. We can't say we want the podium and the green jersey. You have to make a choice."

Kelderman, who turns 31 in March, failed to win five races as a pro last year, but still enjoyed another solid campaign in his first season with the team. In addition to his career-best finish at the Tour, he finished fourth at the Criterium du Dauphiné, fifth at the Volta a Catalunya, and tenth at the Tour de Romandie.

However, the curtain came down prematurely on September 1, when he crashed on the third stage of the Benelux Tour. With a fractured pelvis and ribs, his season was over. In addition, a previously undiscovered fracture in his hand caused a further setback in the winter.

"I'm okay now. I'm feeling pretty good in my zone and happy to be able to work hard. [29] "The offseason was awful and super hard. The off-season was awful and super hard.

"But when I started training I realized that the fracture in my left hand had not yet healed, or was not healing well. I couldn't train with this hand, so another six weeks was easy. That was another setback. So I had to have surgery and it took a long time to recover. Anyway, I started biking a while ago, and I'm doing amazingly well."

Now that his injury is fully healed, Kelderman will start the season with a stage race-centric program, making his season debut at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in early February, followed by the Vuelta a Andalucia and the Tirreno-Adriatico. Adriatico.

Then, after a three-week high-altitude camp and the Tour de Alps, he will tackle the Giro with the Bora-Hansgrohe riders.