"I sent him a message and he didn't respond... That says a lot about him" - Maxim van Gils & Amaury Capiot continue war of words at Tour de France after stage 13 crash
Cycling
There have been a somewhat surprisingly high number of spats between riders at the 2024 Tour de France. Wout van Aert and Jasper Philipsen have been exchanging words, Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have traded barbs and now Maxim van Gils and Amaury Capiot are involved in a war of words.
It all comes back to a crash in the sprint on stage 13, in which Lotto Dstny's van Gils was reprimanded by the race jury afterwards. In the final kilometre of the day, Arkéa - B&B Hotels' Capiot came into contact with van Gils as both riders hit the deck quite hard. The race jury found the younger Belgian guilty, however Lotto Dstny and van Gils himself were far from happy with that decision.
"I think he (Capiot ed.) is putting on a show," van Gils told Het Nieuwsblad ahead of the start of stage 14. "I sent him a message and he didn't respond. This morning our press officer was with his press officer in order to set up a conversation between us to make up. And he refused. That says a lot about him."
"I think he's making a mistake by falling asleep in the sprint," Van Gils continues with fury. "Maybe there was a beautiful lady on the sidelines? He's ruining our day too. He should be able to look in the mirror himself, but apparently he can't. I did nothing wrong. I have re-watched the footage a few times. I am going to talk to the UCI about this, this is not right. I am the scapegoat. Probably because Amaury had already crashed, they did not want to punish him extra."
Capiot himself spoke out on the ordeal pre-stage 14 and was similarly scathing in his assessment of the other party. "I just did my job for Arnaud Démare until 700 meters from the line. When I was done, I looked over my shoulder to wave left. For me, it seemed the most logical option to choose the side of the barrier, because in the middle of the peloton you can be hit from two sides," Capiot recaps, giving his account of events. "If Maxim claims that gap is 50 centimetres, he could have just driven straight through that gap without putting his elbows. I blame him for giving an elbow and a headbutt. I'm very disappointed."
In something of an awkward moment, the two teams actually shared a hotel on the night following stage 13's controversy. "No one from the Lotto Dstny staff dared to look at me. There were no excuses. It is up to him to look for me and you can at least ask in the evening how the person who fell is doing," Capiot concludes.
See the incident for yourself down below and make up your own minds on who is correct!
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- It’s off-season mate, I’m bored and fed up with the mediocrity of people unwilling to provoke change when they admit things aren’t right. What have you done lately to make anyone realise you won’t put up with things? What conversation, are you dictating to me which part of the incident I have to be interested in or telling me other parts are taboo? That’s what I guess the UCI would really like, let them moan, let it blow over for them pass on to the next thing, let’s keep the status quo, let’s try our best not reviewing or revealing anything about decision-making just like every time before, they’re used to it by now so we can take the risk they’ll never give us grief.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- As far as CUTD headlines go this is far from the worst. It helps if you look at it twice and realise it’s a list of descriptions from distinct events. You can’t deny the reality of being a rival if you consider the picture immediately below, frontrunner is unfortunate but I’m guessing this time it’s more a linguistic failure than a clickbaiting opportunity. Just a reminder that this is not an anglo website, for those who find it too tedious to interpret text to get the gist of things which are rarely of great importance (as opposed to eg purposely biaised DOJ extradition translations in order to achieve hidden agendas), there are plenty of anglo cycling websites google can suggest.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- Ah, finally someone willing to be a bit proactive.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- So? Do you understand the way instructions, decisions and authority work? Do you think in a football match if after a match (or even after play has gone on) a player tells the referee he did touch the ball with his hands when the referee didn’t award opponents a penalty that they will revise the score or force a replay? You really don’t get my point, it’s not against the rider but everyone here is so emotional for her they can’t get back to an issue which needs resolving for the future and the first step (or maybe second) is to try to understand how and why it happens, none of you have contributed in the least to that. All everyone is interested in is letting everyone know they agree how unjust it was, not even sure anyone thinks that could affect anything.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- Shouldn’t you be in MOUrning?Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- Maybe you don’t like it and that’s fine, we all have different sensibilities and topics that touch us, but as you try to show me, it doesn’t hurt to reflect and compare ourselves to others behaving similarly. What precisely is the difference between a sports fan interested in every detail of his/her hero’s life and a celeb fan having the same hobby? It’s far more interesting to learn and think about how and why (which) people do things than reading about what they are actually doing. And just to add another level, maybe you’ll agree we don’t use the same value system for everyone, we discriminate in an enormous number of systematic ways. For example, when is the last time you saw a discussion arguing about the achievements of two politicians to compare or for that matter two business leaders apart from the comparison of hypothetical wealth accumulated? Perhaps you misunderstood the intention?Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- I don’t think I know what’s beneath the surface but I am willing to think about it, discuss it, compare it to a known past, extrapolate to a potential future and ask/try to find out truth or even take action within my powers (boycotting something or someone is within EVERY person’s reach). If you think your attitude has more chance of changing a result, a process, a system or an institution or it just makes you feel good, keep at it but to me it looks like you’ve already given up before trying.Jumpyjohn09-11-2026
- All journalists should start asking the UCI uncomfortable questions, sending inquiries about the interpretation of the rules and the justification of the results. This is the only way to change anything.averagecyclist09-11-2026
- OFF TOPIC: OK, don't get mad with me... I have some very important news, something that can't be overlooked, something that can't be ignored!!! In the new documentary Anatomy of a G.O.A.T. (released in November 2026), legendary Belgian cyclist EDDY MERCKX spoke about TADEJ POGAČAR: Merckx: “He has revived a style of cycling that we had almost forgotten. He is now better than me.” Key statements by Merckx about Pogačar in 2026: - Acknowledging his superiority: This time, Merckx openly admitted, without any subsequent backtracking or reservations, that Pogačar had surpassed him and was now above him. This contrasts with 2024, when he quickly softened his remarks about Pogačar being faster. - The possibility of a historic triple (Giro, Tour and Vuelta): During the July Tour de France (where Pogi claimed his fifth title), Merckx stated that Pogi was the only cyclist in history capable of winning all three Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España) in a single season, provided the conditions were right and he had sufficient team support. - Lack of serious competition: Merckx emphasised that Pogačar has no real rivals in the mountains since 2024, thanks to his extraordinary climbing ability and the fact that he continues to improve despite still being under 28 (he turned 28 in autumn 2026). - Praise for his racing style: Merckx highlighted how Pogačar is bringing back the aggressive, uncompromising spirit of cycling's golden era, when races were not merely about calculated stages and tactical conservatism, but about attacking from long distances. PS: Now, this is real important cycling news. This is not "boring" ... this is called making real history, not BS history. Capish?PogiSloFans09-11-2026
- how else is there to look at things? we are responding to words and pictures, we are not there. your long winded replies make zero sense to anyone. pretty much everyone but you says the same thing. MS was robbed. somehow you think you're so smart to dig beneath the surface and discover something no one else, including the opposing coach and cyclist, saw. lol. you are a tool.mij09-11-2026
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❌️ 1500 francos suizos y 60 puntos UCI a Van Gils por esto que hizo ayer en el sprint 👇 ¿Lo ves suficiente? 🤔 Yo no 🤯
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