Maxim Van Gils taken to hospital following Bessèges crash caused by a car on the course
Belgian out of the race on his Red Bull debut but luckily escapes major injury
Pre-race favourite Maxim Van Giles is out of the Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard after the Belgian rider crashed on stage 2.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider went into a ditch with 17km to, with sports director Heinrich Haussler telling us that a car came onto the course, causing riders to brake and leading to a domino effect that eventually led to Van Gils crashing. Several other riders also hit the deck at the same time.
Although he escaped serious injury, he was treated on the Red Bull bus at the finish before we witnessed him limp into a team car and driven to the local hospital by the team’s doctor. He declined to talk but didn’t finish the stage as a result of his injuries.
According to Haussler, the new signing was forced to stop alongside teammate Jordi Meeus due to untimely mechanicals inside the final 20km of racing. Once the pair made contact with the back of the bunch, the peloton were forced to slow dramatically due to the car up ahead.
“The boys clipped wheels, and then we had to change bikes with Jordi, and then with Maxim. Then the guys told me that there was actually a car on the race course driving towards the peloton. Before the final climb. Then the whole peloton brakes, and the boys were just coming back from the mechanical, and they were at the back of the peloton, and it was like a domino effect. They just rode into the peloton, and Maxim crashed into the ditch,” Haussler told us.
Read more: Mechanically speaking: Van Gils and Red Bull mechanic on the transition from Orbea to Specialized 🧰
“He seems okay, but he has a lot of pain, of course. H is going to go and get a check-up to make sure that everything is okay. It’s the impact from the ditch that he has on the side. It’s just to double-check,” the Australian added.
“In this race, there are cars everywhere, parked on the side of the road, and traffic. It’s dangerous. I’ll ask the other directors what went on cos sometimes, in the heat of the moment, guys overreact or something. He’s going with the doctor now to get checked up,” he said.
The departure of Van Gils is a major blow for the German team in this race, but they still have Jan Tratnik as a potential GC rider. We’ll have more on this story over the next 24 hours as we gather more information and reports.
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