“You see a friend in a difficult moment, you help him... otherwise the peloton would be a messed up place” - Victor Campenaerts hits back at critics of De Lie bottle gesture

Victor Campenaerts has defended his much-discussed gesture towards Arnaud De Lie at the Giro d’Italia, insisting the moment was not about pity, embarrassment or gamesmanship, but simple friendship inside the peloton.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider drew attention during Stage 3 when he briefly took a bottle from De Lie as the Lotto-Intermarche sprinter struggled on a climb. The small act was widely praised on social media, but it also sparked debate over whether such a visible show of help could feel demoralising for a rider already suffering badly.

That criticism was voiced strongly on Eurosport’s Kop over Kop, where Bobbie Traksel described the scene as a “really demotivating moment” and said he would have found it crushing had he been in De Lie’s position. His point was not that Campenaerts acted with bad intentions, but that receiving that kind of help from a rider on another team could underline just how badly things were going.

Campenaerts, however, sees it very differently. Speaking to Sporza, he explained that his bond with De Lie goes well beyond team colours. “When Arnaud turned pro, we spent a lot of time together,” said Campenaerts. “We were together in the Lotto team. Arnaud came to my house a lot during that period. When I was in Spain, Arnaud often came there to train with me as well.”

That history, Campenaerts said, made the decision instinctive rather than calculated. “We also always slept in the same room in Spain. That creates a bond.”

The image of Campenaerts helping a rider from another team stood out partly because modern Grand Tour racing is often defined by pressure, positioning and self-interest. But for Campenaerts, that is exactly why the moment mattered. “As well as being cyclists, we are also just people sitting in a peloton,” he explained. “If you see a friend having a difficult moment, you help him.”

Campenaerts added that he would expect the same kind of instinctive support from others if roles were reversed. “If I were to ride for another team later in my career and I had a difficult moment, then Bart Lemmen would help me too.”

He then made the point more sharply. “Fortunately, that still exists, otherwise the peloton would be a messed up place.”

The comments give a clearer answer to the debate around the gesture. Rather than viewing the bottle moment as a sign of weakness from De Lie, Campenaerts framed it as proof that old relationships and basic loyalty still matter, even when riders are wearing different jerseys.

For De Lie, the moment may have looked warmer from the outside than it felt from the saddle. The Lotto Intermarche sprinter had endured a miserable Giro d’Italia after starting the race weakened by a stomach bacteria, and he admitted the bottle incident came during a very difficult spell. “That was maybe a nice moment for you, but not for me,” De Lie said with a rueful laugh. “I was à bloc at that moment. It was a very bad day for me.”

De Lie said his body still had not recovered as it should. “I see that my body is still not recovering the way it should,” he explained. “When I go à bloc, I notice there is nothing in the legs.”

His stomach problems had also continued to limit him. “My stomach is still not super either. I can eat, but not everything goes to my legs.”

Before Stage 4, De Lie had reduced his target to simply reaching the finish. “Just finishing, that is already a nice goal for me,” he said. Even that proved too much. As the race hit the first Italian stage between Catanzaro and Cosenza, De Lie was again distanced early on the Cozzo Tunno and later abandoned, ending a Giro that had never truly got going for him.

Campenaerts’ gesture did not change De Lie’s race, and it could not stop the illness struggles that eventually forced him out. It did, however, offer a reminder that even in a Grand Tour shaped by suffering, tactics and pressure, the peloton is still held together by relationships that survive far beyond team buses and contract changes.