The punchy Belgian all-rounder joined Red Bull in early 2025 after a bitter contract dispute with Lotto, and brings top-five class in the hardest one-day races. On steep, punchy finishes Van Gils is among the most explosive riders in this Tour squad. Expect him shepherding Evenepoel on nervous hilly stages — and freelancing for a stage win when the GC men allow it.
Palmarès
- Saudi Tour GC winner (2022)
- Eschborn–Frankfurt winner (2024)
- Strade Bianche 3rd (2024)
- La Flèche Wallonne 3rd (2024)
- Liège–Bastogne–Liège 4th (2024)
Cut-out factHe won his first professional stage race, the 2022 Saudi Tour, at just 22 — then had to fight through lawyers to leave Lotto mid-contract for Red Bull, one of the peloton's rare mid-winter transfer battles.
The squad
Riding the 2026 Tour with Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Mattia Cattaneo, Nico Denz, Jai Hindley, Jan Tratnik, Tim van Dijke — see the full Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe team page.
Portrait: AI paper-collage render (gpt-image-2) after a reference photograph — source: Wikimedia Commons, author: Hoebele, license: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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