{"id":204340,"date":"2025-12-11T12:03:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=204340"},"modified":"2025-12-12T09:18:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:18:58","slug":"its-now-official-meet-the-new-lotto-intermarche-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/12\/11\/its-now-official-meet-the-new-lotto-intermarche-team\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Now Official: Meet the New Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other shoe has finally fallen; the endless merger has finally been made official. A day after the UCI included Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 on a list of 18 World Tour teams granted licenses for the next three years, the newly \u2013 and finally \u2013 merged team announced in a press statement its squad of 30 riders for 2026, as well as other contributors and members of the new squad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Regarding sponsors and bikes, much remains the same, with Basque bicycle manufacturer Orbea continuing to supply bikes, and other long-standing partners, such as Vermarc Sport, Eko\u00ef and Caps, also remaining with the new project. Even Groupe Wanty, the former title sponsor of the now defunct Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty team, will remain with the new team for at least six years and will become the second name sponsor of the development team Lotto\u2013Groupe Wanty.<\/p>\n

Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty General Manager Jean-Francous Bourlart becomes CEO of Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9, with Lotto\u2019s Kurt Van de Wouwer as sports manager and Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty\u2019s Aike Visbeek serving as performance manager. \u201cToday, thanks to the unification of two historic Belgian teams, a new chapter begins in international cycling,\u201d Bourlart said in the new team\u2019s press statement. \u201cIn recent months we have worked very hard behind the scenes to build a solid project, based on the foundations of Lotto Cycling Team and Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty. We are pleased that the UCI places its confidence in us for the next three years to make this project succeed. The recognition of the UCI ProTeam status for the women\u2019s team also makes us happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, one very important member of Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty has not joined the new squad: 2024 Tour de France green jersey winner Biniam Girmay. The Eritrean, who became the first African rider to win the Tour\u2019s green jersey, signed with NSN Cycling<\/a> for three years.<\/p>\n

\"Biniam<\/a>
NSN Cycling, the team formerly known as Israel\u2013Premier Tech, has confirmed that it has signed 2024 Tour de France green jersey winner Biniam Girmay until 2028. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean that Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 will be lacking speed. On the contrary, the team has held on to 23-year-old Arnaud de Lie, who won the Renewi Tour, the\u00a0\u00a0Grand Prix de Wallonie\u00a0and the\u00a0Bretagne Classic\u00a0this year, and can only improve with time. Lotto\u2019s promising 24-year-old climber Lennert Van Eetvelt also remains and will be eager to prove himself after a season that ended with injuries sustained in a crash in the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

This is a very young team, with only three riders over the age of 30 and no fewer than 20 of the 30 riders being 25 years of age or younger. Which means that, at best, the team has a great deal of potential for future success, but lots of uncertainty about its future success remains. However, Van de Wouwer is very optimistic. “[W]e continue to invest in the development of young talent,\u201d he said in the press release. \u201cNewly crowned [U23] European champion Jarno Widar joins the pro squad, and with Huub Artz and Felix \u00d8rn-Kristoff, we welcome two more former European champions from the youth categories. It demonstrates the potential of our group and the quality of our development programs.” The 19-year-old \u00d8rn-Kristoff won the 2024 Junior Men\u2019s European Road Race Championship and the now 23-year-old Artz was victorious in the same year\u2019s U-23 Road Race Championship.<\/p>\n

“Talent development remains one of our key pillars in the renewed structure,\u201d Van de Wouwer added. \u201cIn recent seasons, both development teams together delivered more than 26 riders to the pro ranks. . . . I am convinced we will continue to be one of the best continental development teams with Lotto-Wanty.”<\/p>\n

As a result of the merger, nine riders \u2013 including the 25-year-old French rider Louis Barr\u00e9 \u2013 have so far failed to find a new team, while six riders \u2013 including Elia Viviani, whose 90 wins include 9 Grand Tour stages \u2013 have retired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other shoe has finally fallen; the endless merger has finally been made official. A day after the UCI included […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":204342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[6356,8647,8821,8822],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-204340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-biniam-girmay","tag-intermarche-wanty","tag-lotto-intermarche-team","tag-pro-cycling-teams","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s Now Official: Meet the New Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9 Team - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The other shoe has finally fallen; the endless merger has finally been made official. 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