Maxim Van Gils will ride for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe after his divorce from Lotto-Dsnty. The Belgian has agreed a three-year deal and will boost Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's hilly Classics and stage race roster.
25-year-old Van Gils had signed a new contract with Lotto earlier this year after outperforming expectations in a series of one-day classics. He was third at Strade Bianche, seventh at Milan-San Remo, third at La Flèche Wallonne and fourth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. He also scored wins at the GP Kantons Aargau and Eschborn-Frankfurt, making him worth far more than his contract at Lotto.
The Belgian ProTeam were unable or unwilling to further boost Van Gils contract and eventually reached a deal to release him.
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Astana, who will be known as XDS Carbon-Tech in 2025, and Ineos Grenadiers were both reported interested in signing Van Gils but he opted to join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
"I am proud to be of interest to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. I felt a special connection with the team from the very first moment. Now I want to work hard with them to achieve big goals. My adventure with the new colours starts tomorrow!" he said.
Maxim Van Gils will join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe at their training camp in Spain on Tuesday and probably pull on their colours for a training ride.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk was careful to thank Lotto for allowing Van Gils to change teams, well aware that riders breaking contracts are often controversial. Last year he lost Cian Uijtdebroeks to Visma-Lease a Bike in a similar divorce.
"I am grateful that, after Maxim expressed his desire to change teams, his advisor, [Lotto team manager] Stéphane Heulot, and I handled the situation professionally. That's what made the transfer possible" Denk said,
Maxim has delivered top results from spring to fall.
Van Gils will join Primoz Roglic, Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov, Dani Martinez and other new signings Oier Lazkano, Laurence Pithie and Giulio Pellizzari at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
"It's not by chance that you finish on the podium at Strade and in the Ardennes, especially at such a young age," Denk said of Van Gils.
"It shows strength, but also potential. We will continue to develop this with our performance structure."
