Transfer of the year? Without a doubt Maxim Van Gils, who recently exchanged Lotto Dstny for the hyper ambitious Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. The 25-year-old Belgian did not make any friends offline or online, but neither did he really take the time to explain why he suddenly left his childhood sweetheart. In the Leader’s jersey was given time to do it together with some other media on Saturday in the Spanish sun. The whole story of Van Gils, about departing friends, his best years and the label of ‘bad guy’.
The fact that Van Gils and his agent Alex Carera decided to express their wish to leave after the cycling season felt sudden to the outside world. During the year he extended his contract with Lotto Dstny until the end of 2026, which was a logical step given his performance. Victory in Eschborn-Frankfurt and the GP Kantons Aargau, but above all top five places in the Faun Drôme Classic, Strade Bianche, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège appealed to the imagination.
According to Van Gils, it was not those performances, but choices made by his confidants that made him think about his future. ‘When I signed with Lotto Dstny we had a very good team that really felt like family. However, guys like Florian Vermeersch, Victor Campenaerts and Andreas Kron left, so that’s when I also started thinking about leaving. ‘I have had a lot of contact with Victor and personally called all my teammates when I left. For example, Arnaud (De Lie, ed.) was not happy, but he wished me good luck. They remain friends.’
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Van Gils now wanted to get on the Red Bull train
An additional factor was the interest that arose when Van Gils put his agent to work. When Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe was interested in a transfer, things happened quickly. ‘This team is growing and there is a lot going on at the moment. I want to jump on the train now and not just when the team is super big and the train might be passing by. It’s Nice to be part of a growth process, so I wanted to get in now. The Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe project is big and ambitious and although I am still young, I also have ambitions, personally and with the team. My best years are coming, when you’re thirty, you’re already old. I want to spend those best years in a good environment.’
Van Gils, for example, would like to win a Grand Tour with the team. ‘I won’t be able to do that myself and that wouldn’t have worked with Lotto Dstny either. It’s still difficult here, but we can dream. My teammates at Lotto were not bad, but very young. As a leader you want to be busy performing and not tell everyone what to do. It’s getting easier here, although I was surprised what we achieved with Lotto Dstny, with such a budget. There are so many more people here, you have ten people for a job that at Lotto was done by one. We must respect that in this new cycling world. But at Lotto you sometimes had to wait a few days for physio treatment, here one is waiting for you on the couch.’
When asked, Ralph Denk, CEO of the German multi-million formation, emphasizes that it was the Van Gils camp that made contact. He thus emphasizes that Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe does not actively want to buy away riders from other teams. ‘We heard in the autumn that Maxim wanted to change teams. But to achieve that, you have to reach an agreement with both teams and the rider. We have found a good agreement with Lotto Dstny, but I want to emphasize that the starting point of everything was Maxim’s desire to change teams. We have never actively sought contact with the rider.’
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Van Gils wants to use his ‘best years’ at the highest level
Of course, that doesn’t make Denk any less happy with the arrival of Van Gils, an immediate boost for the classic core. ‘Maxim has already achieved great results in the major one-day races and hopefully he can take the next step with us. Maxim is still young and has a great performance environment here to develop his talent in the best possible way. The focus will be on the classics early in the year. It will become clear later whether he will do a grand tour.’
Van Gils agrees, who says he will get time with a three-year contract. ‘A two-year contract is short, because you never know what will happen in your first season. New bike, new coach, everything is new… You don’t know how the races will go with new teammates. Then you only have one year left to show what you can do. With a three-year contract you still have two seasons to build on your opening year, even though with the ambitious plans of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe we don’t know exactly whether everything will go well right away.’
He will hope so, because 2024 certainly opened the puncher’s eyes. ‘In 2023 I was not far from my level in 2024, but I did not always race well. I wasn’t always well positioned at the right times and that is so important in classics. That changed in 2024, so I now trust myself more. That has been the big difference, so now I dream of winning races. It would be great if this were achieved in 2025, because there is nothing more beautiful than raising your hands in the air.’
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‘Bad guy’ Van Gils wants to clean up his image
Anyone who hears Van Gils sees someone who is still in a split. On the one hand, there is respect for Lotto Dstny: ‘You don’t decide something like that in one moment or one day, because Lotto is very special to me. Maybe I’ll return one day, so I had to think carefully.’ On the other hand, there is the feeling of love for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe: ‘When you see them driving, you can already see that this team is special. Nice outfit, nice sponsors… I also met the people behind BORA and hansgrohe, friends of CEO Denk. It’s not just business here, they’ve been working together for a long time.’
The white-blonde climber has never had any real stress. ‘It was more stressful than other winters, but I think we handled it well. At first I didn’t even know I wanted to leave, but when that was clear, I was confident that it would work out.’ The response was perhaps more intense, especially online. ‘Everyone tells you not to read comments and social media, but in the end you do. It is not always nice what is written, although there were also nice reactions. I see an article about myself almost every day, but that’s how it works in this world.’
After several incidents in his career (think of his suspension after a blow in Japan and his action against Amaury Capiot in the Tour de France), Van Gils realizes that his image is not undamaged after this transfer. ‘I just didn’t create the label of ‘Bad guy’. I think I’m a nice guy. Many new people I met this winter also only knew me from social media and media articles. They were a bit surprised that I am a friendly guest. However, things have happened that have shaped an image and it is up to me to change that.’
Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | e-mail: [email protected])
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