{"id":35991,"date":"2025-07-31T14:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/35991\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T14:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:49:10","slug":"i-found-myself-with-the-fifteen-best-climbers-in-the-world-campenaerts-revels-in-mountain-role-for-jonas-vingegaard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/35991\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI found myself with the fifteen best climbers in the world\u201d \u2013 Campenaerts revels in mountain role for Jonas Vingegaard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Campenaerts<\/a> may be known for his time trial ability,
\nbut this July he carved out a new reputation, as a key mountain domestique for
\nTeam Visma <\/a>| Lease a Bike during his Tour de France debut. Despite the team
\nfalling short in their bid to unseat Tadej Pogacar, who claimed his fourth
\nyellow jersey, Campenaerts\u2019 effort in the high mountains stood out. Alongside
\nstrong showings from Sepp Kuss, Matteo Jorgenson, and Simon Yates, the
\n33-year-old Belgian proved he could climb with the best, even on the infamous
\nMont Ventoux. For a rider better known for flat efforts, Campenaerts brought
\nsomething unexpected to the peaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a bit of criticism initially, it’s true. But I
\nthink that today, the journalists who had doubts recognize that it was perhaps
\nunjustified. I understand their point of view, but the team knew what it was
\ndoing,\u201d Campenaerts told Cyclism\u2019Actu. His inclusion in the Tour\u2019s mountain
\nsquad raised eyebrows at first, but his preparation was deliberate and focused.<\/p>\n

\u201c90% of the training was focused on the mountains. When you
\ngo to the Tour with the ambition of playing for the general classification with
\nJonas, all the riders \u2013 except Edoardo Affini, who takes care of the flat
\nkilometers \u2013 must be able to climb well.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That preparation paid off. \u201cOn a hors cat\u00e9gorie climb, I
\nfound myself with the fifteen best climbers in the world. It was a great
\nfeeling. It’s true that I didn’t expect to climb so well. Already at the
\nDauphin\u00e9, I felt at my best in the mountains, but here, it was even better than
\nexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Campenaerts is clear that this evolution is not a
\npermanent rebranding. \u201cI don’t want to become a climber for the sake of
\nclimbing. My ambition is to be the best possible teammate in a Grand Tour. And
\nfor that, you have to be able to keep up in the mountains. I hope to be able to
\ncontinue to go to the Tour de France and fight for victory with Jonas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Campenaerts may be known for his time trial ability, but this July he carved out a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-35991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}