As the Tour de France approaches, it's sometimes too quickly taken for granted that the biggest GC days will also contain the race’s emotional high points. But if moments like Mark Cavendish’s 35th victory or Biniam Girmay’s breakthrough bunch sprint triumph this year have already amply disproved that theory, then a win like Victor Campenaerts on stage 18 showed that even a transition stage has just as much hidden potency to deeply move fans, riders and media alike.
You'd have needed a heart of stone, in fact, not to be affected by the TV images of Campenaerts calling his girlfriend and newborn son on the phone and on the verge of tears as he did so, just moments after his stage win in the streets of Barcelonnette.
Then, when it emerged that this victory had been taken after considerable personal sacrifices by himself and his family, including two months at altitude in Spain with his heavily pregnant girlfriend, Nel—who finally gave birth to their son Gustaaf there—it only underlined how important this win was to the 32-year-old Belgian.
Campenaerts actions could not fail to recall the equally heartfelt speech by Matej Mohoric last year when the Slovenian won a transition stage in the Tour, in which he had commented on how winning “means a lot being it is just hard and cruel to be a professional cyclist. You suffer a lot in preparations, you sacrifice your life, your family, you do everything you can to get ready here.”
As a former Hour Record holder - arguably one of the most testing forms of suffering there is on a bike - and a gifted time trialist, Campenaerts clearly knows a lot about handling pain.
But his willingness to go to altitude for no less than nine weeks, as he told journalists, was also indicative of how badly he wanted to add a Tour de France triumph to his transition stage win in the Giro three years ago. Not to mention the depth of his self-belief that, given the right circumstances, he could perhaps do it.
“I got a lot of confidence from the team, I said I wanted to win a Tour stage and that it was my main objective, next to the Spring Classics that were not so good as expected," he said.
“I wanted to do a nine week altitude camp because nowadays they ride so fast, you have to do something different. I was there all the time with my pregnant girlfriend; she gave birth two weeks before we left Sierra Nevada.
“Of those nine weeks, I think for about four weeks, the team was there, too, so I had some company. And a lot of riders prepared for the Tour de France at Sierra Nevada.
"But I was there the first and I left there the last, I saw everybody coming and everybody leaving. It’s maybe not the most inspirational place on earth, but I think now I can say it was worth it.”
Well-known as an equipment fanatic, Campenaerts had already told French television that he opted to ride on Thursday with time trial tyres, having put an ‘X’ on stage 18 as far back in December as the day he wanted to target for the win. But as for why he opted for stage 18 as his biggest Tour goal, he explained simply that “I thought it was the best stage for breakaways where I could do a good finish.
“In December we were already sure to go to the Tour with Arnaud De Lie, who’s a very good sprinter. And we wanted to do everything for sprints, and we did very well, even though we’re not the most experienced Tour team. But there was a good atmosphere in the team, building up and learning from day to day.”
“Of course, we hoped for a win [with De Lie], but I’m extremely happy to take the win for the squad as the old guy in the team.”
Having dialled in on stage 18 as his best goal, Campenaerts opted to take stage 17, the first Alpine stage, as easily as possible, he confirmed, in order to have his reserves at a maximum for the break. He deliberately finished in the gruppetto, as he had done on several previous stages, he said, and then when the break of 34 riders got away early on, Campenaerts was the only Lotto-Dstny rider to be in their number.
Having made it into the break, the next step was to ensure he was with Matteo Vercher (Total Energies) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) when they opened up a gap some 35 kilometres from the line.
“I knew immediately that we were working together well, and there are not so many riders as good as me on the flat roads and even on the slight descents, which is actually where we got away.”
“Then we worked well together, and we could keep a gap open. I admire Kwiatkowski as a rider, so it was an honour to go with him to the finish. But I had the impression in the last 15 kilometres that he was very confident about his sprint, maybe too confident, and I benefited the maximum possible from that.”
But surely the key inspiration that drove Campenaerts to fend off Vercher and Kwiatkowski were the thoughts of his family, the first people he contacted as soon as he crossed the finish line in Barcelonnette.
“Preparing the Tour, I was together with my girlfriend and son supporting me - you can’t imagine how much,” he told reporters as he ended the press conference.
“The time trial and first rest day I was with them as it was quite close to Belgium and they could come over with the car, as it’s not so easy to fly with a newborn child. Then we spent quite a lot of the rest day together, the maximum time we could, and I was very happy to do that.
“I don’t know if you were there [on the rest day] with your own people, but you want to be with them. But it’s not possible to do the Tour de France and be at home at the same time.
"So there’s just three more hard days to ride, and then I can go home to our little family.”
And with a stage win now in his back pocket, that family reunion will surely be all the more special.
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