Maxim Van Gils is set to miss months of racing after suffering a pelvic fracture in a finish-line crash at Clásica Jaén on Monday, his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team has confirmed.
The Belgian rider crashed in the final stretch while launching a sprint for runner-up honors against Tom Pidcock and Jan Christen. Christen was later disqualified by race officials for drifting toward the barriers and into Van Gils’s line.
Paramount images showed Van Gils writhing in pain on the ground, and he did not finish. Tim Wellens, now racing for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, surged to victory with a 55-kilometer solo break, while Pidcock took second and Wellens’s teammate Benoît Cosnefroy finished third.
The team said: “Maxim will miss the upcoming months of racing. The whole team stands behind you, Maxim – every step of the way.”
In response, UAE Team Emirates-XRG manager Joxean Fernández Matxin expressed his sympathy on X: “Ohhh so sorry, this is bad news…!!!!! Wishing him a full recovery.”
Christen later issued an apology via social media: “I want to apologize to Maxim for today. I jumped for Tom’s slipstream when he started his sprint and didn’t see him coming on my left inside. It was an unfortunate incident, something that can happen in racing. I would never put another rider at risk on purpose. There’s a lot of emotion in my head about this situation, and I sincerely wish Maxim a speedy recovery and hope we can race for victory together again in the future.”
ProCyclingStats indicates Van Gils was scheduled to race several key events in the months ahead, including the Vuelta a Andalucía, Milan-San Remo, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Itzulia Basque Country. His team has since updated his calendar to suggest a possible return at the Amstel Gold Race on 19 April, though this has not been formally confirmed.
