From the French Navy to breakaway success - Inside Baptiste Veistroffer's journey to the pro peloton

Baptiste Veistroffer began his cycling career in the ranks of VC Pays de Loudéac, a Breton club that has produced talents including Mathys Rondel and Axel Laurence. 

Before embarking on his cycling journey, however, Veistroffer competed in triathlons while working as an engineer for the French Navy, and he wasn’t a full-time bike rider until Decathlon AG2R came calling in 2023 and offered him a professional contract.

“The skill is different, but also for a breakaway rider it’s quite the same,” Veistroffer tells Domestique of the transition from triathlon to the road. 

“If I remember, when I trained for triathlon, I used to do three hours on the TT bike with some 30 minutes, 20 minutes, 10 minutes at like zone two, zone three, zone four, and then a lot of sessions at high power, but not maximum power.”

All of those efforts came to fruition at the Tour of Oman, where Veistroffer took a superb breakaway victory on stage, powering to the line on the uphill finale at Yitti Hills after 183km up front. It may have been his first professional win, but Veistroffer kept his celebrations low-key at the finish. 

“I don’t feel big emotions like some. You can see a sprinter, they just want to show, ‘yeah, I'm strong, I won, blah, blah,’” Veistroffer says. 

“I was happy, but it’s more inside me. I was happy and also for the team, because I was happy for myself, but also for the team. They always give me an opportunity because they believe in myself and then I can show it’s possible. I was super happy but it’s only the start, you know. I don’t want to stop here.”

Veistroffer’s first pro win came on his third breakaway attempt of the 2026 season after similar efforts at the Tour Down Under and the Muscat Classic. He had gone very close in Australia, getting caught just 2km from the finish line on stage 3.

Veistroffer was rooming with the breakaway master himself, Taco van der Hoorn, and the Dutchman was happy to pass on his advice. “The day before, he told me this is the perfect stage to try a break and that’s what I did,” says Veistroffer, who has drawn inspiration from his teammate.

“If you look at it more, he only attacks when there are a lot of chances to go until the finish, but it’s not only this. The day before, he looks at the parcours really well. He knows everything. He knows what he has to do, what he has to eat. It’s not only pushing hard on the pedals, and it’s really interesting to have a guy like him on the team.”

 Five years ago, Taco van der Hoorn took his most famous breakaway victory on stage 3 of the 2021 Giro d'Italia in Canale. Veistroffer will hope to get a chance to emulate his teammate in the corsa rosa in 2026. “We are still talking about the Giro,” he says.

Due to the sheer amount of breakaways in which Veistroffer has been involved, he is relishing the chance to showcase himself on the biggest stage in cycling. “For sure, I will try in Grand Tours because there is more chance and more opportunity,” he says.

However, he appreciates that the racing scenario is a contrast to those of the week-stage races. “It’s also different because there are all the classifications. Then it’s not the same type of race, but yeah, for sure, I will try. So now we’ll try to discover also more about myself.”

Speaking from his hotel in Abu Dhabi ahead of the UAE Tour, Veistroffer is ready for yet more endeavour, with the 25-year-old embracing his duties as a teammate. At the UAE Tour this week, Veistroffer is likely to be put to work in support of the 2024 overall winner, Lennert Van Eetvelt, who aims to put his bad luck behind him and, in sprinting situations, help set up Steffen De Schuyteneer.

“I like to work for the team and protect the leader,” he says. “If I give 100% of myself for the leader and the leader wins, I’m so happy.”