Lotto-Intermarché has officially been introduced to the public. CEO Jean-François Bourlart took the opportunity to answer some questions about the merged team that had long been on everyone’s lips.
Right in the middle of the Tour de France, none other than Sporza commentator José De Cauwer sparked the rumor that the Belgian teams Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty were in talks about a merger. This was confirmed by both teams on the same day, but communication around the project remained vague thereafter. Riders and staff were caught off guard and stayed uncertain for a long time about whether they would remain with the project, leading to dissatisfaction and the departure of standout talents Louis Barré and Biniam Girmay.
Even after the team received the green light from the UCI license commission on December 10, 2025, and had finalized its rider selection for the WorldTeam, Development Team, and Women’s ProTeam, the new Lotto-Intermarché team stressed in a press release that 'to allow the integration process of Intermarché-Wanty within Captains of Cycling (the company behind the Lotto team and from 2026 also the merged team, editor’s note) to proceed calmly, no further communication would follow for the time being.'
Until now, that is! At the press day in Temse, CEO Jean-François Bourlart — who himself came over from Intermarché-Wanty — immediately offered a ‘mea culpa’ to the numerous attending media on Monday. "This is the first time we can talk about this merger. For the outside world, it might not have been so easy to follow, and perhaps we owe an apology for the lack of communication. But I think that was part of it. It was a complicated operation, and sometimes you have to keep a lot of information to yourself."
Team leader Lennert Van Eetvelt - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
Lengthy and ‘secret’ process
Bourlart did not want to go into all the details. "We’d still be here tomorrow if I did. But what I can say is that after a top year in 2024 with Intermarché-Wanty, during which we won the green jersey in the Tour with Biniam Girmay, we didn’t have the fortune of finding a second major sponsor. Budget-wise, there were difficulties. We were aware that we couldn’t continue on our own, so we felt that it was the right moment to talk to other teams about a possible merger or other solutions."
"Shortly before the Tour de France, Gregory Maes and Jannie Haek (respectively the Strategy & Change Manager and CEO at the National Lottery) came to us to see if there were enough commonalities, if we could work together, and if we could find some common ground. After one or two meetings, we felt we had a lot in common. It was interesting to see that we could be open with each other. That helped us move quickly, but the agreement was to keep everything secret until after the Tour."
"It’s always busy during the race, so we thought about continuing the work in August. Unfortunately, it leaked during the Tour, which sped up the process a bit," said Bourlart. "We couldn’t organize our communication, so we stayed a bit mysterious. Maybe we weren’t open enough. But you can’t just share such things with the outside world. We had good conversations with the riders and tried to avoid causing panic. We quickly informed the UCI and took Adam Hansen from the riders’ union into confidence to talk with the riders’ agents."
Rider core composition
However, the riders experienced this process somewhat differently at times. At that moment, there were 43 riders under contract at both teams combined. "We worked hard to find a solution for all riders. The same goes for the staff. Some had to find another team, others another job. That’s certainly not the most pleasant part of a merger. But it was something we had to get through to stand where we are now. It was complicated on every level. Staff, riders, sponsors. These are two companies that also have to find each other administratively and legally. That’s not straightforward."
Visbeek, Bourlart, and Van de Wouwer - photo: Fotopersburo Cor Vos
In other words, the composition of the rider core was just one of the difficulties, but arguably the most talked-about by the outside world. Team leaders Jarno Widar, Lennert Van Eetvelt, and Arnaud De Lie remained on board with Lotto, while Biniam Girmay was released from his contract and moved to NSN, the successor of Israel-Premier Tech. "Because the merger took some time to organize, he looked for certainty. We couldn’t provide that, but we remain on good terms," assures Bourlart.
"Of course, losing Biniam is a loss. But it’s not that simple. Ideally, you try to make 1+1=3 by bringing teams together. We ourselves saw that we had a lot in common between the two teams. We were both Belgian, we tried to work with talents and give chances to young riders in a professional environment. I see everywhere that our rider core hasn’t become that ‘3’, but we’re going to try to be more than 2. We still have very good riders, and now we can look forward to the future."
Congratulations from the UCI
Was it still stressful to iron out the last details for Bourlart and company? "No. At the UCI license commission meeting in December, we noticed they were a bit worried about how we would execute the merger, but by the end of the conversation, they almost congratulated us on how we handled it. We are now stronger budget-wise, but it’s not doubled. We can continue comfortably and look to the future with optimism for at least three years."
In the current structure, Bourlart won’t be making team decisions alone. Kurt Van de Wouwer will work as sports director, and Aike Visbeek will be responsible as performance manager. "Together we have a solid philosophy," Bourlart concludes. "In the biggest races, main roles are often played by Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar. But we have talented young riders and will focus on races suited to their talents and potential."
