Campenaerts: ‘Cycling is a big boys' game. You put your balls on the table’ - Domestique Hotseat

Do you want to win the signed Team Visma | Lease a Bike jersey? Drop your favourite Victor & Matteo vlog in the comments 👇 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. 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. 00:00 – Introduction 01:15 – Balancing training and fatherhood 01:47 – Early nights, early mornings: a family routine hack 05:52 – From all-rounder to super domestique 09:44 – The “bucket of water” pain cave and confidence on the climbs 13:20 – Accusations of arrogance and racing like “big boys” 16:12 – Rivalry with UAE and friendship with Tim Wellens 21:30 – No regrets, stage wins and choosing the domestique life 26:40 – Beating Pogacar: aggressive Tour tactics and lessons for 2026 28:50 – Lotto Intermarché merger and riders fighting for jobs 30:44 – Signing off: family time and life after a wild Tour season SUBSCRIBE and join us each week as we preview and review the biggest races in the WorldTour. 👉 @DomestiqueCycling Get your cycling news and feature articles on Domestique: https://www.domestiquecycling.com/ Follow Domestique on Socials 🔗 👉 X: https://x.com/Domestique___ 👉 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/domestiquecy... 👉 Instagram:   / domestique___   👉 WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBX... 👉 TikTok:   / domestiquecycling   👉 Facebook:   / domestiquecyclingcom   👉 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36bP23f...