Victor Kampenaerts calls the UCI's decision to rule against inward-facing brake levers in 2024 "bullshit" and believes that riders will simply take advantage of the loophole and take a similar position with flared bars.

The Belgian escape specialist was one of the riders, along with Jan-Willem van Schip, who were clearly affected by the rule, as they pushed the limits of the regulation to achieve the best possible aero effect.

So far, the exact degree of maximum angle has not been set by the UCI, but the wording of the statement released last month uses the phrase "extreme inward lean" as the only line of reference, with no information on whether it will be left to the discretion of the relevant race commissaires. Kampenaerts also objected to the ambiguity of the new rule.

"It's quite difficult. Because the rules are very vague," Campenaerts told Cycling News prior to Lot Dostny's 2024 team presentation.

"It seems that if you wanted to, you could use the brake lever like this (gesturing with his hand at an angle) even if you were riding on the handlebars of a beach race. It makes no sense at all."

The beach race handlebars that Campenaerts refers to are flared bars like those found on many gravel bikes, which allow the brake lever to be angled inward while keeping it parallel to the drop. Such bars are less common in narrower widths, but custom narrow flared bar options may become a trend in 2024, depending on rider demand.

"We understand that some riders consider it dangerous or even dangerous to ride with these brake levers, but for a long time they were not banned. Now they are banned, but they are not banned either," Kampenaerts said.

"As a result, I think we will see a lot of beach racing handles in the peloton to get around this rule. To me, it is simply a bullshit rule."

The highlight of Campenaerts' 2023 season was the Tour de France, where he brutally attacked the final few stages in the break, almost single-handedly securing the possibility that a four-man group on stage 18 would beat the peloton into Bourg-en-Bresse, winning the ultra-combat prize It was to be.

Teammate Pascal Einckhorn was unable to outpace Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step) on the day, but their efforts would have been in vain had Campenaerts not run himself off in the final kilometers.

Campenaerts is aiming to return to the Tour in 2024.

"I want to return to the Tour de France. I've made it clear to the team and they believe it's a good option. I've made it clear to the team and they believe it's a good option," Campenaerts said.

He spends most of the off-season renting a house in Spain to avoid the rainy weather in Belgium.

He then returned to a typical classical calendar in 2023, in which he could hardly participate, as he broke his spine in the Breden Koksijde Classic in March, forcing him to rest until the Dauphiné in June.

After finishing second in the 2023 Omloop Het Niusbrod and winning his first WorldTour race in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, 21-year-old Arnaud Des Liers will be part of a strong Lotto Destony team led by a young superstar.

"The classics are my big goal. But I want to ride in a breakaway group for a day or two in Ruta del Sol, and then there's the time trial. [Arnaud (de Lier) has a strong classics rider. [Last year he had a bit of a bad experience with a crash, but now Arnaud has a clearer goal and we know what he is capable of. So he has a clear idea in his head of how he will approach the race.

For Campenaerts, that tactic is one of anticipation by the likes of himself, Florian Vermeersch, and Brent Van Moors, with the explosive talent of De Lier behind him. The Belgian De Lier is trying to regain his time trial ability and to run with more endurance, "less explosive" so to speak.

"I have already done a lot of training on a time trial bike and it suits my approach to the classics with Arnaud de Rier.

"We will attack early, before the final. If we don't attack early, we will ride to keep the group together. I want to be a little less explosive than last year and increase my FTP, like the time trial riders of old."

Kampenaerts is excited about the speed of his new Orbea bike and the valuable experience of winning the Tour of Luxembourg ITT at the end of 2023, ahead of Brandon McNulty, the fourth place finisher in the World Championships, and he aims to return to some of his previous focus as a time trial specialist He aims to.

Spinal fractures, thankfully, will not be an ongoing problem for Campenaerts and his extreme aero position, whether on a road or TT bike, but the Belgian believes it is something he will simply have to live with after his cycling career.

"The three weeks I was off the bike at the end of the season, I didn't do anything like core stability sessions. [But getting back into training and doing a lot of core stability every day helped with that. But getting back into training and doing lots of core stability every day solved that. The bad news is that I probably have to do core stability for the rest of my life if I don't want to be plagued by back pain.