Van Gils credits Evenepoel suffering after Dauphiné win: ‘I was flying’

Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) admitted that outsprinting Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) on stage 6 of the Dauphiné marked “one of the most beautiful days” in his career and that he is in almost the "best shape of his life."

The 26-year-old Belgian faced a significant setback when a heavy crash in the final straight of the Clásica Jaén in February left him with a fractured shoulder and pelvis. 

Despite the blow, Van Gils maintained his positivity during his recovery, and reaped the fruits of his labour on Friday’s mountain stage at the Dauphiné, his first victory since stage 3 of the Tour of Norway in 2025. 

“I think it's one of the most beautiful days in my career here. 
I think everyone saw the crash. I always stayed positive afterwards and kept working hard,” Van Gils said in his post-race interview. 

Van Gils formed part of a 60-rider breakaway which included his teammates Callum Thornley, Luke Tuckwell and Gianni Vermeersch, and the Belgian credited the work of his teammates in what he described as a collective effort that he had planned days ago. 

“It was a really crazy day. We were already talking a few days about it. 
Two days ago, I lost six minutes in the bunch sprint to go on this stage in a breakaway,” explained Van Gils.

“Also, my Scottish teammate, Callum [Thornley], all the week I was telling him, Friday we go, and we made it a day, but now we were with four guys in the breakaway, and Gianni [Vermeersch], I think, had one of his best days in the mountains; he was super strong,” said Van Gils.

On the final climb to Crest-Voland, the Belgian whittled the race down to leave just himself, Johannessen and teammate Tuckwell at the front, with the 21-year-old Australian the best placed in the GC. 

After leading Van Gils out to victory over Johannessen, Tuckwell crossed the line in third, enough to take the yellow jersey from Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), with a lead of over a minute with two stages remaining.

Van Gils highlighted the prestige of winning a stage and taking the GC lead in the Red Bull camp, particularly as he acknowledged that there had been question marks from the outside surrounding the team selection.

“It's a beautiful day. 
To achieve this with the team is really great. We were here without a big leader, this morning I had some questions in the interviews about why we didn't come with a big star, but to win a stage and take yellow is, I think, really, really big,” said Van Gils.

There were 111 days between Van Gils' crash at the Clásica Jaén and his return to the peloton at the start of the Dauphiné. During that time, the Belgian put in a significant amount of work to try and return at the best level possible, spending plenty of training hours with his compatriot and teammate Remco Evenepoel.

That work has clearly paid off with the victory at the Dauphiné, and Van Gils admitted that he is in arguably the best shape of his career. 

“I think I’m in almost the best shape of my life. I was 25 days in Sierra [Nevada] training with Remco [Evenepoel],” said Van Gils. “Of course he’s stronger than me, so I suffered a lot, but then I arrived here in the race, and I was flying. It’s always difficult to win, but to win with these legs is beautiful.”

The race has a personal meaning for the Belgian, which makes Friday’s victory taste that little bit sweeter. 

“To win here in the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, in the region of the Dauphine, it’s a race I really love, my girlfriend is from here. Today we passed a lot of training roads, so I’m really, really happy about it," said Van Gils."