Tour-Stage-winner cries seconds after finishing line on phone
Victor Campenaerts has to interrupt his altitude training camp just before the Tour de France due to his girlfriend going into labor. However, he is in form at the Tour and wins the 18th stage - and rushes straight from the finish line to his phone to see his baby.
After winning the sprint, Victor Campenaerts made everyone stand and lie down, and immediately reached out for his phone at the finish line in Barcelonnette. Not even a minute after his brilliant breakaway victory on the 18th stage of the Tour de France, the Belgian had his girlfriend Nel and his nearly 1.5-month-old son Gustaaf in a video call. Everything else was far away, the tears flowed.
"This win is for her, it's all so unbelievable," said the 32-year-old with the neat mustache and could hardly keep his composure in the winner interview: "My girlfriend was still very pregnant with me nine weeks before the Tour in the altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada."
In the Spanish training camp, Nel went into labor and the couple rushed towards Granada, where Gustaaf was born. And ever since then, his Nel has been "my hero in the whole story," as he proudly declared in an interview with the portal Escape Collective just before the Tour: "My girlfriend is so flexible."
She is flexible, Campenaerts was not: "We had calculated that he would be born before the Tour. If that hadn't been the case, I would not have ridden the Tour at all." So it worked out perfectly. And since the Tour ends on Sunday, the former hour record holder will be with Nel and Gustaaf in no time. In person, without a screen.
On the day of the breakaway, the general classification riders, who had a 13:40 minute deficit, threatened the escape group. On this Friday, the battle for the Yellow Jersey at the Tour over the roof of the Tour at the Cime de la Bonette enters its decisive phase. Tadej Pogacar in the Yellow Jersey can almost perfectly make his third overall victory. In the spectacular 19th stage over three 2000-meter peaks, it must again be a matter of the three-way fight between Pogacar, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (+ 3:11 minutes), and Remco Evenepoel (+ 5:09).
Following his triumphant 18th stage win at the Tour de France, Victor Campenaerts immediately celebrated with a video call to his new family, expressing his gratitude for their support during his altitude training camp interruption due to his girlfriend's pregnancy. Despite the challenging circumstances, the Belgian Cyclist was in top form during the Tour de France.
