The Belgian expected to trade Lotto Dstny to the Dutch side on a three-year deal
Victor Campenaerts will leave Lotto Dstny for Visma-Lease a Bike in 2025 as he aims to win the Tour de France as a team.
Campenaerts’ contract is set to expire after five seasons spread over two different stints at Lotto Dstny and he will return to the team he drove for in 2016 and 2017, apparently on a three-year contract, according to Belgian media.
No new transfer can be revealed before August 1, but several sources have confirmed that Campenaerts will join Visma for The Nieuwsblad yesterday and the same year of 32 also confirmed to the Belgian newspaper that he will sign a contract until 2028 without specifying the team.
“I can’t say much until August 1. I can say that I will sign a three-year contract with another team,” said Campenaerts The Nieuwsblad, who could live out his last years in the Dutch team. “And although there is no certainty on this subject, it could be that I have left my career aside after this period.
“It also plays a different role. I tell you that my new goal is to win the Tour de France as a team.
As one of the greatest innovators in the peloton, Campenaerts has changed roles and types of rider throughout his career, from time trial specialist to former world champion time record holder, a major contender for the Classics or escape specialist.
But now he wants to become a key part of the Grand Tours, using his top power for GC riders in the same way as Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonathan Catroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers), who also started as and TT specialist.
The latest news said Campenaerts was highly sought after in the spring despite his struggles in this year’s cobbled classics, with Soudal Quick-Step and Ineos Grenadiers also looking to use his skills.
But Visma won the negotiations, reaching an agreement thanks to his offer of three seasons in one of the best cycling teams. This makes sense as a matchup with the team and Campenaerts both very supportive of maximizing absolutely everything in terms of performance.
Lotto Dstny could not confirm much about Campenaerts’ departure before August 1, but was ready to admit the extent of the loss of the experienced Belgian.
“Victor is free after this year, that’s a fact. I don’t know how the contract negotiations are going with Stéphane (Heulot, CEO of the team). I don’t think it’s impossible that he will join a new team at the end of the season, I can say that,” said sporting director Nikolas Maes. WheelerFlits.
“We benefited a lot from him in the last three years. He was an added value to have on the team. And he still has his value in the team today. As a leader we have not surpassed him, but his contribution inside and outside the race should not be underestimated.
“I can also recognize that: thanks to Victor, the team has made a great effort in terms of innovation, the test of time and the search for all the marginal gains that we can enjoy.”
Campenaerts will join fellow Belgians Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot at Visma-Lease a Bike and was primarily intended to replace the highly versatile Classics leader and Grand Tour domestic Jan Tratnik, with the Slovenian apparently leaving for Bora-Hansgrohe in 2025.
