Originally, the Apple iPhone was three separate products: an iPod, a mobile phone and an internet communications device. In the late 1990s when Steve Jobs joined the American technology company he had a vision of an unknown need. He decided that all products should be combined into one and reinvented Apple as a mobile technology company, distinguished by products as the iPhone and the iPad. Today, Apple has sold more than 1.5 billion units worldwide. As of the first quarter of 2024, the Apple iPhone's market share of new smartphone sales was over 17 per cent.
Jobs’ strategy when he transformed Apple has been coined blue-sky thinking. Blue-sky thinking can be defined as a thought process whereby ideas are not limited by the current beliefs or norms of a group or society. It can be the creation of ideas that are whimsical and maybe even bizarre. Such thinking might lead to just the solution you need. Or it might lead to something that doesn't work at all.
If there is one rider in the current WorldTour peloton who embodies the approach of blue-sky thinking, it’s Lotto-Dstny’s Victor Campenaerts. In his decade-long career, the Belgian rider has been a trailblazer in the sport. His obsession with data and unbridled confidence to try out the latest in technology and aerodynamics – no matter if it meant he was laughed at by his colleagues – has helped him become one of the most prolific breakaway riders of this generation. But blue-sky thinking comes with as much risk as it does reward.
Campenaerts has been close to victory in the Tour de France on multiple occasions: he finished second on two stages in 2020 and has since been in plenty of breakaways that have fallen victim to the jaws of the peloton. There were times when it looked like Campenaerts would never be rewarded for his commitment to his sport. Then came a Giro d’Italia stage win in 2021 when the Belgian rider won in the way he knows best: with a long-range move. The 2024 Tour de France, however, has finally given Campenaerts one of the most coveted prizes of all.
When he outsprinted his two breakaway companions (who had all escaped from the original 30-rider strong move of the day) at the finish line in Barcelonnette on stage 18, Campenaerts face spread into a wide smile as he took his hands off the handlebars. The stage win was his validation of the blue-sky thinking he has practised for so long. It may have taken time, more than he wanted, but in the end, the dedication paid off.
“I said I wanted to win a stage of the Tour and this was my main objective. I wanted to do a nine week altitude camp because nowadays they ride so fast I have to do something different. I was there the whole time with my heavily-pregnant girlfriend. She gave birth to my son two weeks before we left,” Campenaerts said afterwards in a press conference filled with emotion.“Of those nine weeks, I think I had about four weeks with my team there. A lot of riders prepare in the Sierra Nevada for the Tour. I was there the first, I left last. I saw everybody coming and everybody leaving. Maybe it’s not the most inspirational place on earth, but now I can say it was worth it.”
Every detail was thought of in Campenaerts’ preparation for stage 18 of the Tour de France. He’d done a recon of the course in December with a teammate and had planned his training to perfectly peak for this specific date. The sacrifices he’d made to spend time at altitude with his wife and his child were all for this day. For some riders, it might seem obsessive, but Campenaerts believes in blue-sky thinking.
“I was preparing for the Tour all the time together with my girlfriend and my son. My girlfriend supported me, you couldn’t imagine how much. The time trial to the first rest day wasn’t close to Belgium, they had to come with the car, so they could travel,” Campenaerts commented. “We spent a lot of time together on the rest day, the maximum time we could spend together. I was very happy to do that.”
It’s sometimes rare to fully grasp the sacrifices that professional bike riders make to perform on the highest level. Campenaerts’ teammates talk of the ice baths he takes every morning, of his mental and physical strength, and his unwavering belief in how he approaches his sport. His school of thought – as intense as it may seem to some – gets results. This Tour de France proved that.
“I have a bright future now in cycling,” Campenaerts said a few moments after taking his stage win. “I became a father and it was blue skies, only blue skies.”
