Victor Campenaerts wins stage 4 at the Baloise Belgium Tour(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)
Victor Campenaerts in full flight during his successful Hour Record attempt in April, 2019(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Team Dimension Data have announced the signing of Belgian time triallist Victor Campenaerts. The 27-year-old will join for 2020 as the team rebrands to Team NTT.
Campenaerts has won two races this season, the final time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico and stage 4 of the Baloise Belgium Tour. He narrowly missed out on victory at the San Marino time trial at the Giro d'Italia after suffering a mechanical in the closing metres.
His biggest achievement to date, however, came in April of this year. After months of preparation at altitude, Campenaerts broke the World Hour Record, recording a distance of 55.089km at the Aguascalientes Velodrome in Mexico.
Campenaerts has been a professional since 2014, first for Sport Vlaanderen, then Jumbo-Visma, before spending the last two seasons at Lotto Soudal.
"I'm really looking forward to my new adventure with Team NTT next year," said Campenaerts in a statement on Monday. "The contact that I had with the team earlier on (in the year) was immediately really positive – with riders at first, then with some of the staff, and later on directly with [team manager] Doug Ryder.
"The common interests were very positive for both parties, and we didn't need to talk too much in order for us to agree on working together.
"I had two super good years with Lotto Soudal, it was a really positive experience and it was really difficult to leave the team but I’m really looking forward to this new challenge. I’m sure that this is a step forward in my career and I’m really looking forward to it."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Ryder indicated that Campenaerts would likely race the time trial at the Tokyo Olympics next season, adding that the signing is "hugely exciting" for the South African team.
"Our title sponsor, NTT, has its roots in Japan, and so to prospectively have Victor challenging for a medal there will be a fantastic moment for us," Ryder said.
NTT, the parent company of Dimension Data, will take over title sponsorship of the team next season in a major rebrand of the company.
Campenaerts isn't the only change to the roster to be confirmed so far, with Italian duo Samuele Battistella and Matteo Sobrero stepping up from the Dimension Data for Qhubeka feeder team to the WorldTour outfit. Meanwhile, Mark Renshaw and Lars Bak will retire at the end of 2019.
