A battle between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard at the 2027 Tour de France is already virtually certain. After the Slovenian confirmed his presence for next year's edition, the Dane's has also been given as a certainty by his right-hand man Victor Campenaerts.
The Belgian has just come off a victory at the Eneco Tour, his first stage-race as an elite rider - after 12 years as a professional rider. The Belgian's level is as high as its ever been, but his role within the team remains to be the right-hand man of Jonas Vingegaard.
Not only is he a centerpiece of Vingegaard's performances on the bike, he is also one of Vingegaard's trusted teammates off the bike. He reveals the two have already recently talked about the 2027 season.
"Certainly in fact, he’s already looking ahead to next year. He first reached out to me back in late August to exchange some thoughts about next year, and I remember saying, 'Whoa... that’s a bit early!'," Campenaerts said in words to Wielerflits.
"But it’s fantastic to see how motivated he is to perform even better". After crashing out of the Tour de France, there had been questions regarding Vingegaard's motivation, after suffering a major setback on top of a few days where his level appeared distant from that of Tadej Pogacar.
Vingegaard hasn't returned to racing since. But Campenaerts keeps no secret of what the Dane's main goal is: "We can’t reveal everything, but the season really hinges on the Tour de France..."
Victor Campenaerts has found his role as Jonas Vingegaard's right-hand man
Mixed feelings for Victor Campenaerts
Campenaerts has had, in terms of his performance, one of his best seasons ever. But the Tour de France's outcome was a rock in his shoe.
"I have mixed feelings. The season started off very well at Paris-Nice. After that, I rode the Giro with Jonas, which was an absolute blast—it was incredible to see how dominant we were as a team."
"But in the Tour de France, I personally wasn't in the best shape. And then there was Jonas’s crash... That wasn't what we had hoped for," he admits.
"You could argue that a season really stands or falls on the Tour de France. I’d give it a 7 out of 10, but I’m always aiming for more..."
The Eneco Tour victory and the yellow jersey obtained on the opening day of the Tour de France will have been amongst the headlines of the 34-year old's season.
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Campenaerts climbing better than ever
But Campenaerts's climbing performances this year were the sign that he continues to perform at his very best level, specially with his Paris-Nice performance in which he decimated pelotons. At the Giro d'Italia, his preparation also saw him thrive in the mountains like never before.
"The trend from last year was very positive, and I was able to build on that at the start of the season. But as a domestique, you also need to be highly reliable and consistent—and that’s precisely the area where I felt I fell a bit short."
"Naturally, if you lack that bit of consistency—as was the case during the Tour—well... It wasn’t a disastrous race, and I was able to do my job, but it was just a little less than what I had hoped for," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
- Great win.However will the world champions jersey be simply a domestic for the season which will some what tarnish the jersey. I hope he is given free rein to try and win some races.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Gretsky wow how old are you lol. Classy sportman though.🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hope it is a good as the one they made on Mark Cavendish.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Literally the perfect RedBull athlete.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
- And well understood in the CX community.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
- "Anatomy of a G.O.A.T." OK, that's great!!! I've been saying all along: Tadej Pogačar-Pogi is the G.O.A.T... period. Not only in cycling... but he's the greatest sportsman that ever lived !!! But let's take a look of what real foolishness is. We have many many fools, also on this site, saying that Pogi is "boring,"... he's making cycling "boring"??? I can't believe what's comming out of their deteriorating bad breath mouths. So I guess Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Fasto Coppi and Anquetil were also boring at their time!?!? I guess Michael Jordan, Le Bron, Gretzky, Messi, Ronaldo, Shumacher, Novak Džoković, Federer, Rossi, Marquez, Phelps, Michaela Shiffrin, Venus Williams, Bolt, Lewis Hamilton... etc. were all boring. PS: Many cycling fans that think that way, have to get a brain scan. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- ridiculous. a normal racing incident. how lame do you have to be to complain about that?Ketterechts06-11-2026
- Rubbing is racing.
santiagobenites06-11-2026 - Throws an elbow, but crashes afterwards and he's upset.
Front24206-11-2026
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