One signature is still missing in the transfer case of Louis Barré to Visma | Lease a Bike. Although the Frenchman is free to leave his current Walloon team according to UCI rules, Intermarché-Wanty wants to receive a sum of money from Visma | Lease a Bike. This is the last stumbling block to finalizing Barré’s move, multiple sources confide to WielerFlits.
After the transfer of Cian Uijtdebroeks, Visma | Lease a Bike had to return to the market. Initially, the Dutch team was done, but the departure of the talented Belgian—to Movistar—changed that. When the team learned of Barré’s availability, they were somewhat surprised that they could still sign a rider of such caliber at this point in the season. According to UCI rules, riders from Intermarché-Wanty are free to leave because that team did not apply for a WorldTour license starting next year.
This is all related to the impending merger between the Belgian teams Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty. Sources close to the merger indicate that the project is underestimated. One of the stumbling blocks is a multi-million shortfall at the Walloon outfit, Het Nieuwsblad wrote earlier this month. For that reason, both teams must downsize as much as possible. In some cases, this costs a lot of money. By collecting transfer fees, Intermarché-Wanty hopes to generate extra income to mitigate losses. However, they only do this for riders they want to keep in 2026.
Louis Barré is such a rider who was expected to become part of the merged Lotto-Intermarché team. From his current Walloon team, they hold riders to their contracts. In the case of the Frenchman, that commitment runs until the end of 2026. According to Intermarché-Wanty management, their contracts fall under Belgian labor law. The collective labor agreement no. 32bis of June 7, 1985, states that employees retain the same rights—and thus their contract—when transferring or merging between two employers.
photo: press agency Cor Vos
Double standards
According to Belgian labor law, a cycling team can change its identity in such cases, and the contract of the former paying agent remains legally valid. UCI regulations, however, prescribe that if a team does not apply for a license, riders are free to leave. According to multiple sources, Intermarché-Wanty is now trying to generate money from transfers of riders they want to keep, based on labor law. The same happened with Biniam Girmay, but his new team Israel-Premier Tech reportedly did not agree with that.
Visma | Lease a Bike and Barré himself have agreed on a contract starting January 1, 2026. The last hurdle the team still needs to overcome at the negotiation table is potentially paying a transfer fee to Intermarché-Wanty. That team, on the other hand, does pay for riders they want to release. Riders who cannot stay with the merged team despite a valid contract are paid out. According to the same collective labor agreement no. 32bis, those riders—regardless of whether they find a new team—are entitled to that.
Intermarché-Wanty thus uses double standards: on one hand, they force riders to stay or to generate money for them, on the other hand, they eagerly pay out contracts of riders they do not want to take to the merged team. Insiders tell us this could mean the end of the career for some riders if they do not find a team. Although they will receive the residual value of their contract, it is unlikely they will be able to return to racing in 2027 after a gap year. A difficult predicament in what already proves to be a headache of a dossier.
Sources around Intermarché-Wanty indicate that the final word on Barré’s transfer—and also Girmay’s, by the way—has not yet been said. So this story will undoubtedly continue.
So no collaboration between Girmay and Arnaud De Lie after all? - photo: press agency Cor Vos
