"What is happening with Maxim Van Gils does not bode well for the future" - Marc Madiot thinks cycling is more and more resembling football

Maxim Van Gils made the headlines last week when he informed his team Lotto Dstny that he would like to terminate his contract (through 2026). Groupama - FDJ manager Marc Madiot, who also lost of his big talents (Lenny Martinez goes to Bahrain - Victorious) this transfer window, can understand Lotto Dstny's dissatisfaction over this fact and thinks that this trasnfer policy (of riders breaking their contracts at will) is not good for the sport of cycling.

"What is happening with Maxim Van Gils does not bode well for the future," he explained in an interview with RTBF. "The arrival of large financial structures is not positive for our relationships with what I would call the traditional sponsors of cycling." The French manager’s concern lies in the arrival of these large sponsors (UAE, Bahrain, ...) who can offer very high salaries, creating an imbalance in the market compared to teams that do not have the same type of availability.

"I often tell my riders that I start from this principle: our sponsors are not obliged to have a cycling team," he adds. "Their job is not to have a cycling team. So we have to be very careful about this aspect. If they one day leave, what will be left?"

"Losing riders is part of the life of a team. At the moment it is a bit trendy in many teams. Obviously we would like to keep our riders, but it is not possible. But in general I think we are becoming more and more similar to football, without having the compensation (financial) of football. I do not think this is very healthy, neither for the team nor for the rider."

"Lotto Dstny needs this rider and has a contract with him. I put myself in their shoes: they have been there for decades and have invested money, they managed to discover a good rider in Maxim Van Gils and from one day to the next, for one reason x or y, he wants to leave. This attitude puts at risk everything that Lotto has represented in Belgian cycling. Today it is Lotto, but tomorrow it could be Quick-Step or someone else."