"I could practically hit the bullseye with my eyes closed" - Contrast season for 2024 revelation Maxim Van Gils

The whole Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe is under the weather this year, despite their ambitious recruitment which included a heated transfer of Maxim Van Gils last winter. Through a range of sicknesses and allergies, the podium finisher from 2024 Strade Bianche and La Fleche Wallonne has been nowhere near his fantastic level from previous season.

A stark contrast to 2024 when Van Gils competed with the best in about any race he attended. "The strange thing is that I always felt bad during training last year, but in the race, everything really fell into place," he told Het Nieuwsblad. 

"I could practically throw at a dart board with my eyes closed, and I would still hit the bullseye. While this year, I did things much more correctly and often had a better feeling, but now everything went wrong. Of course, this is not what you want," he reflected. "I had just joined a new team. You want to show the best version of yourself. That was not exactly the case."

"It's not that I would make a different choice today, I still fully support that, but it did make it a different winter than usual," he said. "It was more about that transfer than about training. Meetings, discussions, travel. I may have underestimated that. Maybe with a top winter, I would have found my form more quickly after an illness."

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe was nowhere to be seen this spring with the Classics teams, failing to leave footprint in both Flanders and Ardennes. That was also partly due to absence of Van Gils' form.

However Van Gils doesn't make much of these setbacks and seems ready to face the future races. "It is not that I was crying in bed or walking around depressed. Even in that Ardennes week I could handle it all," he said. "Yes, it was annoying. And no, I could not ride my races the way I wanted. But to panic? No. I signed here for three years. We are not in a rush. There is still time to achieve my goals."

It might be too late to fix the spring, but there's still half a season ahead and the young Belgian hopes to bounce off the Criterium du Dauphiné with good feelings.