"It's really crazy, everything went perfectly this season" - Maxim van Gils ends perfect spring with victory at Eschborn-Frankfurt
CyclingWednesday, 01 May 2024 at 18:07
Third at Strade Bianche and Flèche Wallone, Top10 at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Milano-Sanremo, winner of the Vuelta a Andalucia (time-trial) and now winner of Eschborn-Frankfurt. Maxim van Gils had an immensely successful spring and his last day of racing for a while ended in a surprising victory.
“It is my last race of this period and my spring was already incredible, but to end it with a WorldTour victory is an absolute dream,” the Belgian said in a post-race interview. . “I didn't feel great, but the team made the race very difficult to throw the sprinters overboard. That gave me confidence. I then just had to survive the last steep climb, the Mammolsheim." Although he was among the main favourites, the Lotto Dstny rider couldn't make the difference on the climbs where he would hope a group such as last year's to emerge off the front of the race.
“I then focused on the sprint and was able to recover in the middle of the group," he says. Jan Christen was the only rider to lead the race after the ascent, but a large group sprint took place then between a group of climbers and classics specialists. From these, van Gils was ultimately the strongest. "During the sprint, a door opened just before the finish. I had enough speed at that moment and was able to finish it.”
He's become Lotto Dstny's new face and will be now recovering and preparing for the Tour de France and Vuelta a España where he will chase more high-quality wins. “It's really crazy, everything went perfectly this season. I ride at a very high level and I enjoy it very much. Today I win a sprint, but I was also good in the Ardennes recently and I won a time trial earlier this year. That's very strange," he concluded.
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- The handbags are already out aren't they? Let's see who pulls for who.Renz07-05-2025
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maria2024202407-05-2025 - It's unfortunate a rider of his caliber hasn't won the Tour de France and I can't fault him for trying, in fact, I respect it. But he never will win the Tour as long as Tadej and Jonas are in the peloton, and we might as well add Remco to that list as he is the youngest and seems to be coming up quickly behind Tadej and Jonas. I hope Primoz can capture another Giro and maybe another Vuelta before he calls it a day.awp07-05-2025
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santiagobenites06-05-2025
Lucky boy!
You can say that again lucky boy, if I was at the UCI, your suspension would not have been during the holiday period, basically pointless.
Nevertheless, congratulations on your win
Your point ???
He called his season perfect, that was only coz he escaped an upset with a symbolic punishment instead of one that would have made his season a bit less than perfect.
Now, before you start whining about the incident not having been meriting of more severe punishment, rewind into the context of all that’s been discussed generally over the last 6 months, spectator rowdiness or endangering of riders, rider attitudes to safety, etc. and then think about in what measure we expect application of laws and rules to apply.
Imagine a spectator had done the same, imagine it would have caused a crash?
Happy 30th by the way ;-)