Victor Campenaerts on his aims after return to racing is confirmed for Critérium du Dauphiné: "Helping my teammates and finishing the race in the best possible way"

After more than ten weeks out following his crash at the Bredene Koksijde Classic, Victor Campenaerts's return to racing has been confirmed to be the Critérium du Dauphiné.

The 31-year-old, Belgian, former Giro d'Italia stage winner has undergone much recovery and training in order to get back to fitness and he is excited to get back into the action. “Despite the severe injuries, the recovery process went quite smoothly but I realise that it was quite a long way back,” he tells the official website of Lotto Dstny. "Being a pro cyclist, forced to stay in bed really is a tough challenge. Fortunately, I had lots of visits from teammates amongst others and I also read several books, that way time passed by a little faster.”

Riding the Critérium du Dauphiné for the third time in his career, Campenaerts isn't putting himself under any pressure for results. Instead preferring to ease his way back into the peloton. "To prepare the Critérium du Dauphiné, I chose for a stay of four weeks at Sierra Nevada. To do several endurance rides with my teammates already felt like a victory," he explains. 

"At the moment, I feel quite good during training but my ambitions at the Dauphiné remain limited to getting the race rhythm back, helping my teammates and finishing the race in the best possible way,” Campenaerts continues. “It was really motivating to follow the team’s races on tv. The team showed itself, obtained strong results and I hope to be a part of that in the next few months. With so many strong riders, it will already be a battle to make the selection.”