Johan Bruyneel tackles Maxim van Gils' contract breaking and why teams stay away from certain agents: "They don't keep their word"

Maxim van Gils of Lotto Dstny is reportedly breaking his contract with immediate effect, likely so as to join a new team. This is becoming a more frequent scenario in pro cycling but Johan Bruyneel points out that this is the work of specific agents such as Alex Carrera who also manages Tadej Pogacar.

"He's a Belgian rider racing for a Belgian team, that's the start of the whole thing and there's a law in Belgium - it's very old, from 1978 already - that says there's a free transit of employees," Johan Bruyneel told Spencer Martin in 'The Move' podcast. "There's no-one who can force you to stay in your working place if you want to move somewhere else under the condition that you pay the remainder of your contract".

Hence we have a situation unfolding where the Belgian rider is most likely leaving his team, likely under the guidance of his agent and the promise of a much larger contract elsewhere. Where that is is still unknown, but it has been rumoured that Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, INEOS Grenadiers, Astana Qazaqstan Team and Movistar Team are all possibilities. The first two are the most likely.

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Bruyneel points out that van Gils' agent Alex Carrera (also Tadej Pogacar's agent) is also in charge of Cian Uijtdebroeks who broke his contract his BORA last year to join the Visma team. "Carrera is probably estimating the value of a rider like Maxim van Gils at €2 million a year. If he signs a new deal for €2 million a year that's €4 million, subtract that and it's still €2.8 million [if he has to pay the contract himself]".

After what he has achieved this year, the Belgian rider can with certainty find a leadership position in many teams at World Tour level. Besides his consistency, he has won Eschborn-Frankfurt, podiums at Strade Bianche and Flèche Wallonne and is a rider very capable of scoring big UCI points who would also attract quite a bit of attention from teams in the lower part of the rankings.

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Bruyneel however points to the main part of the issue here, both he and Martin agree that this is becoming more frequent and is the work of certain agents, who are also gaining negative reputation within teams.

"... There are teams that like certain agents and then don't like other agents because they don't keep their word or they want to negotiate multi-year deals straight after they shop around for other teams," Bruyneel argues. "This has been going on for a very long time".

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"The rider is portrayed as a money-grabber. I think that is totally wrong" - Belgian experts back up Maxim van Gils in Lotto Dstny contract controversy