'We broke his fucking hour record, didn't we?' says Belgian
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Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) gets going after a bike change(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) stopped for a bike change(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
One for the record books: Victor Campenaerts proudly shows off the new Hour Record mark of 55.089km, set at the Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico in April, 2019(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
He's done it! A thrilled Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) celebrates having set a new Hour Record in April, 2019(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Bradley Wiggins celebrates breaking the UCI Hour Record at Lee Valley Velopark Velodrome in London.
Lotto Soudal's Victor Campenaerts has responded to former pro Bradley Wiggins' comments that he should change teams to one with a more modern approach, telling Cyclingnews at the Giro d'Italia that he's perfectly happy where he is.
Speaking on the latest edition of Eurosport's The Bradley Wiggins Show, in reference to Campenaerts' botched bike change during Sunday's stage 9 time trial at the Giro – where the Belgian's spare bike appeared to have been left in too high a gear for him to get going again on the climb to the stage finish, effectively causing him to lose the stage to Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) – Wiggins had suggested that Lotto Soudal were "still acting like it's 1974".
"He's in a Belgian team – the biggest Belgian team – Lotto [Soudal], that's still acting like it's 1974," said the former Hour Record holder, whose record was beaten by Campenaerts in April.
"If he went to Sky [Team Ineos], he'd see the difference," Wiggins continued. "What will happen is that they [Lotto] will offer him a load of money, he'll re-sign for three years, and he'll stay there, and it's, like, you could be so much more, Victor."
Asked by Cyclingnews at the Giro d'Italia on Wednesday what he'd made of Wiggins' comments, a bemused Campenaerts suggested that the 2012 Tour de France champion was off the mark with his comments.
"He can of course say what he wants," Campenaerts told Cyclingnews. "I don't have a lot of idols, and he's a bit of one to me, but I don't think he's been involved with many of the time trials we've done with this team, or for the Hour Record, so I don't really know if everything he's said is right.
"I think for sure at Sky, or now Ineos, they do a really good job, but I think we reach a really high level in time trials on this team, too. I don't think it would be possible to get the results I do if we were taking an approach like they did in 1974," he laughed.
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"I think it's a really good podcast, and it's really interesting to listen to him, and of course we are quite a traditional team compared to Mitchelton-Scott, Sky or Sunweb – teams like that – but I think we've taken some really big steps in terms of taking a scientific approach," Campenaerts continued.
"I'm definitely not as good a cyclist as Bradley Wiggins is, but I broke his Hour Record just because we did it more scientifically than he did."
In further comments to Belgian website sporza.be, Campenaerts was a little less measured in his response.
"I don't think he saw how we broke the Hour Record as a team," the 27-year-old said. "We broke his fucking hour record, didn't we?"
Cyclingnews is the world's leader in English-language coverage of professional cycling. Started in 1995 by University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell, the site was one of the first to provide breaking news and results over the internet in English. The site was purchased by Knapp Communications in 1999, and owner Gerard Knapp built it into the definitive voice of pro cycling. Since then, major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features, news, results, photos and tech reporting. The site continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English voice in professional cycling.
