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The official Super Max Max Max(im Van Gils) thread

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Samamba

Samamba

May 10, 2015
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A thread for the guy who can win a TT, go with the best in the big classics and now also win a sprint from a group of 40, the guy who's the 4th best scorer of 2024 so far, the guy who has finished in the top 10 in 10 out of 11 one day races he did this season, the guy who could win a slap contest (just ask Bouglas), the guy who thinks eating "garnaalkroketten" as a dessert is normal, ...

I'm of course talking about the only real Super Max...

Maxim Van Gils (so not that fake Dutch guy who can't drive a car properly)

Maxim came into the u23 category with some expectations after winning La Classique des Alpes, something that made the news in Belgium cause well... they didn't have climbers back then so they had to hype up everyone who made it over a bridge. His first year wasn't the best cause he crashed into a ravine in the Ronde de l'Isard resulting in a nasty back injury, but in his second year he started performing very consistently with good results in races with a lot climbing. Lotto Soudal moved him up to the pro ranks after that and he made his debut in Catalunya where he immediately got some decent results. After that he struggled with covid but in the 2nd part of the year his best results of the year came with a 7th place in the Tour de Wallonie and a 12th place in San Sebastian. If he didn't mess up his sprint this would've been his first top 10 in a big WT one day race.

Definitely not a bad first year as a pro, but he didn't get his first win. In his second year tho, he came in with a bang. He immediately won the Saudi Tour. The hype was real, but because of some health issues he couldn't really break through completely afterwards. Last year tho his consistency came back, and combined with good results. It went a bit under the radar but he was already 7th in Amstel, 8th in Fleche and 11th in Liège. He was also with the 10 best on the Monte Sante Marie in Strade but messed up tactically after that, meaning he missed a good result. In Milano San Remo he started the Poggio too far back and missed the front group by 20 meters before working for Ewan. Later in the year he got 2nd on the Grand Colombier and 14th in Lombardia after getting catched in the last 500 meters by the group that battled for 9th place. What i'm trying to say here is that his results from this year were absolutely not coming out of nowhere. Maxim has been progressing steadily and he wasn't that far off this level last year already. I don't think I need to write about his insane results this year, I'm assuming everyone knows him now.

What's next for him? He will be taking a bit of rest now before going on altitude and preparing the Tour de France in Suisse. Worlds will be a big goal at the end of the season, and he's hoping for an Olympics selection, but he doesn't really believe in it. It will be very hard next year to have the same results as this year, but I'm sure he'll be up there in the big classics again. Also expect him in the Tour of Flanders next year. He was actually going to be a surprise starter this year but it didn't happen because of his crash in Catalunya.
 
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shadowrider

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Logic-is-your-friend said:
He has more in common with Gilbert than with Evenepoel.
Click to expand...
Not quite. Van Gils is a puncher/uphillsprinter as Gilbert was. He is even better in TT than Gilbert was. On the other hand, I don't think Van Gils would be able to perform on cobbles and even win in Nieuwsblad, Flanders and Roubaix, as Gilbert did. Nor be able to win 97 times (80 UCI) in his career, nor be able to win 4 of the 5 monuments and the worlds. Although that is still theoretically possible.
So, stop comparing riders. What can be predicted is that he will be a potential top ten rider in GT and possible stagewinner. Maybe winning a few (semi)classics and, who knows, one monument (Liège, Lombardia, San Remo) in his career.
But it is possible that he will remain a sub-topper during his further career, as there have been so many in Belgium.
 
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Keldergoat

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Great rider. Impressive punch but also has some tenacity that you need for the monuments.

Man, what a generation Belgium is having. Van Gils, Evenepoel, De Lie, Van Wilder, Van Eetvelt, Uijtdebroeks all born within 3-4 years of each other. Interesting to read a piece on what they're doing right on youth development, only putting it on cycling culture would be too easy given that Belgian had loads of generations without any decent climbers as well. Quite enviable from a Dutch perspective.
 
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Samamba

Samamba

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Rob5091 said:
If so, what are Dingemans, Cordeel & Segaert exactly doing at Lotto?
Click to expand...

Segaert isn't at Lotto anymore (he's at Bahrain). Dingemans is head performance (and I wouldn't really be surprised if he gets replaced at some point), not just a trainer. Cordeel trains riders. Not every rider on the team has to have an in team trainer, even tho the team prefers it. Someone like Geerinck isn't a problem cause he's very well known within the team. He has trained a lot of Lotto devo talent in the past. Also trains Van Moer.

The main thing that explain Van Gils his increase in level the last 2 years (mainly) are him moving to Grenoble to live with his girlfriend, so instead of training in flat Antwerp he's now training in the mountains. Then there's also more money to performance in the team, so more altitude camps, it mightve not worked perfectly for everyone at Lotto this year, but the long Teide camp definitely worked for Van Gils. And yes dietist is a good shout. Britt Lambrecht (sister of Bjorg) is doing a good job there. I don't think Van Gils knew what dieting was 2 years ago.

That and him just getting older and thus stronger and more experience, which really helps him positioning wise. He wasn't good at it 2 years ago, now he's really good at it.
 
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Rob5091

Rob5091

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So we can thank the future Mrs Van Gils and Bjorg's sister for Van Gil's performances! Hurrah for the ladies! :) (also getting experience in the WT peloton is priceless)

Thanks also for the info on Dingemans et al. The guys we don't hear much about can be very influential.
 
Logic-is-your-friend

Logic-is-your-friend

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Keldergoat said:
Great rider. Impressive punch but also has some tenacity that you need for the monuments.

Man, what a generation Belgium is having. Van Gils, Evenepoel, De Lie, Van Wilder, Van Eetvelt, Uijtdebroeks all born within 3-4 years of each other. Interesting to read a piece on what they're doing right on youth development, only putting it on cycling culture would be too easy given that Belgian had loads of generations without any decent climbers as well. Quite enviable from a Dutch perspective.
Click to expand...
Belgian Cycling started testing boys specifically for climbing potential in Alsace about 10 years ago. A lot of guys that would have gone lost in search of a new Boonen suddenly went to the front of the line. Lambrecht, Van Wilder, Evenepoel, Uijtdebroeks... they all went through it.

Ballon d'Alsace | Strava Ride Segment in Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle, Grand Est, France

www.strava.com www.strava.com
 
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