Victor Campenaerts will leave Lotto Dstny for Visma-Lease a Bike in 2025 as he targets winning the Tour de France as part of a team.
Campenaerts’ contract is due to expire after five seasons across two different stints at Lotto Dstny and he will return to the team he rode for in 2016 and 2017 reportedly under a three-year contract according to Belgian media.
No new transfers can be unveiled until August 1 but multiple sources confirmed that Campenaerts would join Visma to Het Nieuwsblad yesterday and the 32-year-old himself also confirmed to the Belgian paper that he will be signing a deal until 2028 without saying the team.
“I can't say much about that before August 1. I can say that I will sign a three-year contract with another team,” said Campenaerts to Het Nieuwsblad, who could see out his final years on the Dutch team. “And although there is no certainty about this yet, it could be that I will put my career on the back burner after that period.
“It will also be in a different role. Let me say that my new goal is to win the Tour de France as a team.”
As one of the top innovators in the peloton, Campenaerts has changed his role and rider type throughout his career, be that as a time trial specialised and former hour record holder, a top Classics contender or breakaway specialist.
But now he wants to turn himself into a key domestique for the Grand Tours, employing his power on the front for GC riders in a similar way to the likes of Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonathan Catroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers), who also started as TT specialists.
Het Laatste Nieuws reported that Campenaerts was highly sought after in the spring despite his struggles in this year’s cobbled Classics, with Soudal Quick-Step and Ineos Grenadiers similarly looking to employ his skills.
But Visma were the winner of the negotiations, coming to an agreement thanks to their offering of three seasons at one of cycling’s best teams. It makes sense as a match with the team and Campenaerts both highly in favour of maximising absolutely everything in terms of performance.
Lotto Dstny of course couldn’t confirm much about Campenaerts’ reported departure before August 1 but were willing to admit how big of a loss the experienced Belgian would be.
“Victor is free after this year, that is a fact. I am not aware of how the contract negotiations with Stephane [Heulot, CEO of the team] are going. I don't think it's impossible that he will move to a new team at the end of the season, I can say that,” said sports director Nikolas Maes to WielerFlits.
“We have benefited a lot from him in the past three years. He was an added value to have in the team. And he still has his value in the team today. As leader, we are not going to outplay him, but his contribution inside and outside the races should not be underestimated.
“I can also acknowledge that: thanks to Victor, the team has made a big push in terms of innovation, time trial and looking for all the marginal gains that we could benefit from.”
Campenaerts would join fellow Belgians Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot at Visma-Lease a Bike and was mainly targetted as a replacement for the very versatile Classics leader and Grand Tour domestique Jan Tratnik, with the Slovenian reportedly off to Bora-Hansgrohe in 2025.
