Mechanically speaking: Van Gils and Red Bull mechanic on the transition from Orbea to Specialized 🧰

The young Belgian makes his debut at Bességes and outlines his race calendar, and why he changed teams

Maxim Van Gils made his 2025 debut for Red Bull at the Etoile de Bessèges.

At the start of stage 2 of Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard, there was a fascinating moment as two former teammates caught up in the small village of Domessargues.

Arnaud De Lie and Maxim Van Gils, who both raced together at Lotto in 2024, waited at the line and chatted like old friends.

At one point, Van Gils removed himself from his bike, taking his bidons as did so, as De Lie, who still rides Lotto’s Orbea bikes, picked up the Specialized SL8 to get an idea of the weight comparison. We’re not in the business of lipreading, but the Lotto rider certainly looked impressed.

Back at the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team bus, the mechanics were getting ready for another day’s work, but we caught up with one of them to talk about Van Gils’ switch from Orbea’s Orca Aero to Specialized’s top-of-the-range machine.

“He already had the bike in November, so he was training before he came to the training camp,” the mechanic told us.

“In the end, at this level, all bikes are similar. I think the change from going with SRAM was a bit different to Shimano, but in the end, each groupset has its own benefits. Okay, Shimano is maybe shifting a little bit faster, but the brakes are at least better on SRAM. He will have benefits on this groupset,” the mechanic added.

Changing bikes can be a huge ordeal for pro riders. Everything can change at once, and modifications, no matter how small, can have major impacts on positioning and form. However, Red Bull appear to have taken care of their new Belgian signing.