Maxim Van Gils: "A really crazy day"

June 12 ^th 2026 - 17:36

"This is one of the most beautiful days in my career. Everyone saw the crash [in Clasica Jaen]. I always stayed positive afterwards and now to win here in the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, in the Dauphiné region… It’s an area I really love. My girlfriend is from here. Today we passed a lot of my training roads. I’m really really happy.

It was a really crazy day. We had been talking about this day for some time already. Two days ago, I lost six minutes and it was a bunch sprint. With my Scottish teammate Callum [Thornley], we were talking about going on the move on Friday. And we actually had four guys in the breakaway. Gianni [Vermeersch] had one of his best days in the mountains; he was super strong.

It was really a team effort and it’s so beautiful to win this stage.
It’s a beautiful day with the team. We are here without a big leader. This morning, I was asked about why we didn’t come with the big stars. But a stage win and the yellow jersey, that’s really big.

I think I’m close to the best shape of my life. I was 25 days in Sierra Nevada training with Remco [Evenepoel]. Of course, he’s stronger than me, so I suffered a lot. And now I’m flying in the race. It’s always difficult to win but to do it with these legs is beautiful."