🎥 The Giro d'Italia 'Pee-bottle-gate' saga appears definitively closed: Campenaerts comes clean

During stage nine of the Giro d'Italia, an unusual line appeared in the race jury report: riders were warned that urinating into bidons was no longer permitted. People were puzzled that this was even something that needed saying — and so Het Nieuwsblad went to investigate. Their enquiries pointed to Victor Campenaerts as the chief suspect behind the practice. In his vlog, the Belgian confirmed the accusations.

The UCI's jury notice immediately prompted the suggestion that this was a regular occurrence in the peloton. Arjen Livyns was quick to push back on that. "It doesn't happen often," he said. But the finger was immediately pointed at his fellow Belgian. "I actually only know one rider who definitely does it."

That rider was Victor Campenaerts. Oliver Naesen also named the Visma | Lease a Bike man as the spiritual father of the pee bottle method. "I won't mention names, but V.C. is the expert on this subject," the Belgian said. The technique — in which a rider forces a bidon into his shorts to urinate discreetly into it — was not immediately acknowledged by Campenaerts. "Pee bottles in a race? I have no idea what you're talking about," he said with a laugh.

A few days later, the Belgian came clean in his own daily vlog. "The accusation of me being the inventor? That very well could be right," he said, laughing. His intentions, though, were good. "We ride for sometimes seven hours and in most countries it is actually forbidden to urinate in public. There are no toilet zones next to the roads, like you see in triathlon, so we are a bit forced to find our place."

Campenaerts also stressed that he would not hand these bottles to children — something the UCI appeared to be concerned about. "Urinating into your bottle and then returning it to the team car is simply a practical option." Teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss stated in the vlog that they had never done it themselves.

"But it is better than peeing in front of people," Vingegaard conceded. Kuss had seen it happen in races, though. "I saw someone do it during the queen stage of the Tour. It was a breathtaking sight," the American laughed. The practice will not be happening again, however, as the UCI has now issued an official ban on pee bottles. With that, 'pee-gate' appears to be firmly closed.