Astana and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe battle for signing of Maxim van Gils as an high offer is put on the table

Maxim van Gils' future is currently hanging in the dark and it unknown where the 24-year old will head in 2025 and if he will be caught up in problems because of his departure from Lotto Dstny. Unilaterally decided, the termination of the contract came at a difficult timing, and there are strong indications that a certain World Tour team is pulling the strings to secure him already.

Last week it had initially been reported by Het Laatste Nieuws that van Gils would be ending his contract with Lotto Dstny, and the same Belgian news outlet today has reported that Astana Qazaqstan Team are coming closer and closer to signing him. With a new Chinese sponsor coming on board the team should be one of the few that still have budget they can spare deep into November, and they are in dire need for UCI points as they face almost certain relegation. After the signing of several classics riders, van Gils would fit perfectly into the team's plan and would simultaneously keep having the same lead he has had in the team he turned pro with.

It is said that Astana and unsurprisingly Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe are in the battle to sign van Gils, being the two teammates who have got sponsors that are willing to increase the budget if it's for the purpose of a big signing at the moment.

"The discussions with Lotto are very good at the moment. We are not angry with each other, that is already good," van Gils had said in an interview last week. "The decision has to be made fairly quickly. Preferably at the end of November, beginning of December. It is important for both Lotto and me that this is over quickly. I have a lot of confidence in it. Everything is being arranged well for me.”

However the sudden breaking of contract months after a renewal does not bode well for many within the sport, who see the confidence in agents diminish and the importance of contracts also lower. Belgian pundit Michel Wuyts was not afraid to launch harsh words into the mechanisms of this move earlier: "With the broadly grinning manager Carrera (Alex Carrera, his agent, ed.) in the background, this transfer stinks of opportunism".

Marc Madiot, manager of Groupama - FDJ also expressed a lot of concern: "I put myself in their shoes: they have been there for decades and have invested money, they managed to discover a good rider in Maxim Van Gils and from one day to the next, for one reason x or y, he wants to leave. This attitude puts at risk everything that Lotto has represented in Belgian cycling. Today it is Lotto, but tomorrow it could be Quick-Step or someone else."