Just like Tom Pidcock, Maxim Van Gils hit the headlines during this off-season. Still under contract with the Lottery Dstnythe young Belgian finally forced himself to break his lease, in order to join the new juggernaut Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. And according to information from various media, he would have multiplied his salary by six, to receive approximately 2.4 million euros per year (3-year contract) within the German team. During the press conference of his new team, Van Gils took the opportunity to discuss many subjects.
Video – Heulot, manager of Lotto Dstny, on the Van Gils case
“I will concentrate on one-day races”
“When I extended with Lotto Dstny (in March, editor’s note), we had a great team, we were like a family”he explained. “Then guys like Florian (Vermeersch), Campi (Campenaerts) or Kron announced their departure. And I started to ask myself questions. It was a process, it can't be decided in one day because Lotto was special for me, and maybe I'll come back to it one day But I thought about what I wanted to do over the next two years. You're not a runner for long, at 31 you're already old, I think. my best years are coming now, so I want to spend them in a great environment, with big goals.”
Goals already checked… “I'm going to focus on the one-day races. They already have enough riders for the Grand Tours here”he says. “A Grand Tour is good, but it's not really essential. If you look at Marc Hirschi this year, he didn't do a Grand Tour either, but he still had a good season.”
