Team Visma | Lease a Bike are a team continuously struck by injuries, and this week another of Jonas Vingegaard's important domestiques for the Tour de France has also been affected. After Christophe Laporte's long-standing health issues which have not allowed him to yet start his season, now
Victor Campenaerts is also sidelined.
Alongside Wout van Aert - who should however have other ambitions - Laporte and Campenaerts will be the two key man to help the Dane with positioning throughout the race, as well as chasing down breakaways when necessary.
Campenaerts was only signed by Visma this season but immediately and effectively took on his new role as a domestique, a brilliant rouleur who is also coincidentally riding the same bike size as Vingegaard which makes him an ideal right-hand man for urgent necessity of a bike change. Both right now are out of competition however - as Vingegaard is still regaining form after suffering a concussion in Paris-Nice.
Campenaerts started
Itzulia Basque Country this Monday, but then on stage 2, near the sprint finish, he suffered a high-speed crash which had as a consequence a shoulder fracture which will keep him out of training on the road for several weeks, and most likely stay away from racing until June where he is expected to team up with the team's Tour block at the Criterium du Dauphiné after an altitude camp.
“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to ride the classics I had planned," Campenaerts said in a
press release. "The upcoming weeks will be focused on recovery. Following the doctor’s advice, I’m not allowed to train outdoors for now. My training will be limited to indoor sessions. I’d like to thank the team’s medical staff as well as the medical personnel at AZ Maria Middelares in Ghent for their excellent care.”