Podcast

Victor Campenaerts on Tour glory, suffering for Vingegaard and life as a super domestique – Domestique Hotseat Podcast

Aidan sits down with Tour de France stage winner and Visma | Lease a Bike workhorse Victor Campenaerts for a conversation about trading personal glory for the life of a super domestique in service of Jonas Vingegaard. From long winter blocks in Spain with his young family to the brutal reality of riding uphill until “half the peloton is dropped”, Campenaerts explains why this phase of his career feels like the most fulfilling yet.

by Aidan Burgess
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Tim Wellens and Victor Campenaerts Criterium du Dauphine 2025
Cor Vos

The Belgian opens up on the routines that keep his life balanced, from early nights with his son to sunrise productivity, and how that calm off the bike helps him embrace the chaos on it. He dives into the art of climbing as a domestique, the trust inside Visma’s Tour de France train, and why hearing Vingegaard say “you will be a lot of time with me next year” means more than chasing his own stages. 

There is an honest look at Tour tactics against UAE, his friendship and rivalry with Tim Wellens, and the emotional cost of team mergers such as Lotto and Intermarché, where friends and former teammates are left fighting for contracts. All that from the rider who has squeezed “everything out of the lemon” of his own talent and still chooses to bury himself for someone else in yellow. 

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