Following a long period of rehabilitation for a vertebra fracture suffered at March's Bredene Koksijde Classic, Victor Campenaerts is returning to racing on Sunday at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
The Lotto-Dstny rider hasn't raced in almost three months after suffering the injury in a multi-rider crash at the semi-Classic. He was forced to miss the bulk of the spring Classics as a result and is only now getting back to the peloton for the week-long stage race.
Campenaerts is set to target Belgian National Championships later in the month, with the Vuelta a España a possible target later in the season. Next month's Tour de France is, however, not an option.
He's recently been working at altitude in the Sierra Nevada and will travel directly to France for his racing return. He'll head to the Dauphiné with the goal of finishing the race in mind, as well as helping his teammates throughout the week.
"To be clear, I am starting without any ambition," Campenaerts told Het Nieuwsblad. "Although, no, that's not true. To finish the race, that's my ambition, but besides that, I'm mainly going to help other guys, like Maxim Van Gils, who also went on altitude training for a long time.
"Before I left for the Sierra, I was able to cycle at home for a fortnight. Although I have to say that my back still played tricks on me during that. But my condition was so bad from not being able to train for so long that the few hours I was able to cycle were enough to improve my form. You notice improvement every day, and that is satisfying. Every day felt like a victory."
The long recovery from his crash and back injury saw him stuck in bed and feeling "disgusted" at how he was spending his days. He did have regular visits from his teammates, though, and he noted that how they have raced in his absence – on the attack and into the top 10 of the UCI rankings – has encouraged him during his racing absence.
"After a few days in bed, I got incredibly disgusted with myself," he said. "I just sat there in bed swiping through social media only to realise in the evening that I hadn't done anything meaningful for a day. I deleted all social media and started focussing on things like literature on sports psychology.
"Sometimes, it was the sweet spot here, and five riders would stop separately during their training for a coffee and a biscuit. Especially Florian Vermeersch – he visited me the most by far.
"It was motivating to see the drive of the guys on the team. Not only did they race offensively, but they also picked up a lot of points. That encourages me to get back on level because I will have to be good to not be the worst of the team or make the selection at all."
Campenaerts has much of the rest of his 2023 season laid out ahead of him, mixing stage races like the Dauphiné and Tour de Wallonie with one-dayers around Belgium.
The Dauphiné will be followed up by two weeks at altitude before the Circuit Franco-Belge, the Sibiu Tour, and another spell at altitude before turning his focus to a possible Vuelta a España build-up.
"I can hopefully ride at a competitive level again," he said of Wallonie. "That seems realistic to me. Next will be Leuven, Druivenkoers Overijse and the Egmont Cycling Race. Later, the Benelux [Renewi – Ed.] Tour or Vuelta may be added.
"If my rehabilitation had gone faster than hoped, it might have been a realistic goal," he said of the Tour de France. "But then I should have been able to go on altitude training in Livigno in time.
"Riding the Dauphiné with four weeks of thorough training is already on the optimistic side. Taking on the Tour after that didn't seem a good idea for me, nor for the team. If I manage to win another stage or one-day race somewhere this year, my season will already be more than successful given the circumstances."
