"I wanted to be in the leading team in a grand tour again" - Victor Campenaerts hopes to become key to Visma's Grand Tour success in 2025
Cycling
Despite a good stint with Lotto Dstny, Victor Campenaerts chose to join Visma | Lease a Bike next year. The 33-year-old Belgian knows his role will be that of a teammate in most races, but feels ready for long shifts at the front. Again, because he's not heading to a completely unknown environment.
In the podcast Geraint Thomas Cycling Club, Campenaerts talks about his move to Visma. "I thought about it a lot," the former world hour record holder begins. "I wanted to be in the leading team in a grand tour again and get that respect."
"I have ambition myself, but riding for myself is not necessarily the best. I have achieved things, but it suits me best to ride at the front," the experienced rider indicates. "I can ride the pace at the front and excel in that."
Campenaerts dreams of delivering a new Tour winner together with his new employer. To achieve this, the winner of stage eighteen of the last Tour de France is prepared to do a lot of work at the front. "In the hills or even in the mountains," he indicates. "I would like to achieve those results with a team again."
Campenaerts already raced for LottoNL-Jumbo in 2016 and 2017. As at the time one of the top-timetrialists, he wasn't allowed to go all out in the time trial in the 2017 Giro by his team. This was because the Fleming had to save energy to support leader Steven Kruijswijk later in the Giro d'Italia. Campenaerts did not agree with this and came up with a joke as a protest.
The then 25-year-old rider started and finished the Giro time trial with his upper body bare, with the words 'Carlien, dating?' written on it in large letters. While the woman in question agreed, his team also did not appreciate his joke. "I underestimated its impact," Campenaerts told Thomas. "It went viral and the team was not happy about it, no. Richard Plugge even told me: we will put in the new contract that these jokes are no longer allowed."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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