Maxim Van Gils looks back at his controversial departure from Lotto: "I still get along well with many people, except Heulot"

Maxim Van Gils made a big name for himself during the 2024 season, fighting consistently for podiums at biggest one-day hilly races. All that while racing on a modest salary in the colours of Belgian ProTeam Lotto. Naturally this attracted rich sharks who were willing to buy out the 25-year-old out of his contract. Ultimately, it was Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe to secure the services of Van Gils.

In the podcast De Koffiestop, Van Gils looked back on his transfer. "At Red Bull, I saw the motivation to take a step forward, while at Lotto I noticed that the budget was becoming more and more of a problem. At the moment in the cycling world, everything is so professional that you need a big budget to participate. At Lotto, that was simply going to become a problem."

While this helped Lotto free up some money in their tight budget, it was a bittersweet farewell, Van Gils admits. "Now they can be quite happy that I left, I think. It has created an extra [budget] within the team."

"They had heard that I didn't have a super contract with Lotto and that it could be bought off. We started talking to a few teams, but I quickly knew that it had to be Red Bull. From the World Championships onwards, we had serious talks, but then it still had to be settled properly with Lotto."

Lotto didn't initially want to hear anything about one of their biggest prospects changing colours. But ultimately forcing a rider to stay wasn't an option. But it still weren't easy times, Van Gils explains: "You don't want to disappoint anyone, but that is not possible. I have always been in my place and still get along well with many people."

Just not quite with team managment yet. "I hadn't spoken to Kurt (Van de Wouwer, ed.) yet. I always got along well with him, and hoped that would continue. It was difficult for a while, but in Liège I stopped at the bus and we had a chat. It wasn't like before, but still positive. Heulot was a bit less. I think it's important that I still get along well with Kurt, because I had a great time with him."