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"Too large gap in payment" blamed for scuppering triathlon star Kristian Blummenfelt's ambitious plan to win Tour de France by 2028, as coach rues "disadvantage of being the world's best triathlete"

2020 Olympic champion's coach was outspoken in their desire to focus on cycling full time, the triathlete with highest ever recorded VO2 max reportedly rejecting an initial approach from a team because they let riders enjoy a "few beers" after the Tour...

The coach of Kristian Blummenfelt has suggested his rider's ambitious bid to switch to professional cycling to win the Tour de France by 2028 was brought down by a "too large gap in payment".

Last month, coach Olav Aleksander Bu revealed the headline-grabbing sport switch was on hold, little more than a month on from Bummenfelt and Bu turning heads with the pre-Olympic announcement that the Norwegian triathlon star was "90 per cent likely" to focus solely on cycling for 2025 and that they "won't go to cycling to retire, but to win".

What exactly Blummenfelt could win in pro cycling became a hot discussion topic instantly — the 30-year-old having tested for the highest absolute VO2 max (as opposed to relative VO2 max, which factors in weight) ever recorded in history, but sceptics doubting if it would really be possible for a 30-year-old to come into cycling and compete, let alone win, at the Tour de France... even if they are the 2020 Olympic champion in triathlon.

Bu believed the plan was "serious" enough and suggested his rider would "probably need a few years", but could aim to win the Tour de France by 2028, having learnt the ropes in 2025, made his Tour debut in 2026 and reached a position of being able to "take some jerseys" in 2027.

2022 cadex triathlon bike prototype rode by kristian blummenfelt at ironman world championships - credit cadex cycling

And while plenty shook their heads in disbelief, Tour de France stage winner and soon-to-be domestique for Jonas Vingegaard's 2025 yellow bid Victor Campenaerts warned the doubters that Blummenfelt "is not to be messed with" and could "immediately claim his place" in the peloton.

Campenaerts, who won stage 18 of this year's Tour de France from the breakaway into Barcelonnette, said: "Mentally, he is unmatched. If you think I am a professional idiot, I can guarantee everyone that I will not even reach his back wheel.

"After his Olympic title in Tokyo I sent a message to congratulate Kristian and asked them if he was going to rest now. He had taken one day to visit the Olympic village, one day to return home, and then he started training for the next goal."

Unfortunately for everyone invested in the high-profile sport switch, last month Bu revealed Blummenfelt won't be moving to cycling after all, the defending champion having endured a disappointing time at the Paris Olympics by his own lofty standards, finishing 12th and almost a minute behind gold-winning Alex Yee.

> Kristian Blummenfelt slams "amateurish" Olympic organisation after missing out on medal

"After the Paris review we have decided to aim for Los Angeles 2028," Bu told Velo last month. "Despite the results in Paris, we are more confident after the race that going back from Ironman to Olympics is possible. We want to give it one last shot."

And now, speaking to Tri247, Bu claimed the sticking point was the "too large gap in payment", the coach left to rue the "disadvantage of being the world's best triathlete".

Blummenfelt had been linked with a move to Australian WorldTour outfit Jayco-AlUla, while it was also reported earlier in the summer that the Norwegian's negotiations with another team had broken down over concerns about the squad's professionalism.

Campenaerts gave Het Nieuwsblad his glowing reference of Blummenfelt's abilities but also explained how he'd heard of negotiations with an unnamed WorldTour team breaking down "when they heard that the management of that team thought that riders also had a right to a week's rest and a few beers after a Tour de France".

Kristian Blummenfelt and Victor Campenaerts

"They didn't think that was the right team." Campenaerts said. "In other words: whichever team it is, they will have to want to go along with the story completely."

Also touching on one of the main criticisms of Blummenfelt's plan — namely the potential bike-handling gap he may need to bridge with the peloton — Campenaerts said of course they have considered this "because they are not stupid".

"He describes 2025 as the year in which they will seek out the limits – to ride through a corner as fast as possible until Kristian falls, for example. To go through the corner at the same speed next time without falling. His first race will also be crucial," Campenaerts said.

"Kristian will immediately claim his place, so that everyone understands that Blummenfelt is not to be messed with. He means business. His plan is too concrete not to be true."

Unfortunately for Campenaerts (and the rest of us keen to witness the sport-swapping experiment), that last sentence hasn't aged particularly well since.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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8 comments

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Paul J | 3 weeks ago
1 like

IIRC Campenaerts had 1 or 2 vids a few years ago of him doing training rides with a triathlete, who was an absolute monster and was tearing the legs off Victor for a number of hours. Can't find them back though. Wonder was that Blummenfelt? If so, Victor might be right.

Campenaerts isn't stupid... (And he has phenomenal legs).

Avatar
check12 | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

ocd gonna ocd 

Avatar
anke2 | 3 weeks ago
1 like

I find it regrettable that this wonderfully modest athlete has now decided not to wear the yellow jersey after all. He has probably already cancelled the order on Amazon. We can only speculate about the reasons - perhaps his manager has learnt on the quiet that there will probably be neither a swimming stage nor a running stage in 2028 - and that he doesn't just have to conquer the Dutch mountain (the wind - Mont Vent...) only. But what the heck, the salary of a Tour de France champion isn't worth mentioning anyway...

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Pub bike replied to anke2 | 3 weeks ago
1 like

I wonder...perhaps his (absolute) VO2 max is simply too high for the TdF, and the race would not be able to cope? 

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Carior replied to Pub bike | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

I wish people would stop reporting that figure - its been debunked as wholly unreliable - best explanation is the piece the Real Science of Sport Podcast did on it.

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Pub bike | 3 weeks ago
1 like

"Too large gap in payment" confused me.  I presume this is a clumsy translation from Norwegian and it actually means were he to join the pro-peloton he would have to take a lower salary than he currently receives, and that cut would be too large for him to meet his financial commitments/salary expectations /attitude/whatever*

*delete where applicable

Avatar
Carior replied to Pub bike | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

He won't have a salary, it'll be Norwegian state funding plus sponsors.

I'd imagine he was told:

a) you'll need to ditch your existing sponsors (some of whom are probably quite lucrative)

b) here's your domestique salary - we'll pay you the big bucks when you have a palmares.

It also amused me that he thinks he can rock up having not won anything meaningful for three years and Bu still has the balls to claim he's the World's best triathlete!

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Another_MAMIL replied to Carior | 3 weeks ago
2 likes

Indeed. Britain's Alex Yee—who is fresh from medalling in the Paris Olympics—is the most successful male triathlete in Olympic history (two Gold medals, plus a Silver and Bronze). 

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