'Officially submitted' – Mooted merger further solidifies as Lotto confirms joint UCI registration application with Intermarché Wanty

The Lotto team's license holder, Captains of Cycling, has confirmed the squad put in the team's UCI registration for 2026 as a joint application with Intermarché Wanty.

By the October 15 UCI team registration submission date, reports were already flowing that the move to make the mooted merger official had been taken, with Het Laatste Nieuws reporting earlier this week that a meeting between the two teams resulted in an application for the license being sent in shortly before the October 15 deadline.

"Captains of Cycling, the license holder of the Lotto Cycling Team, confirms that it has officially submitted its file to the UCI for the joint Lotto-Intermarché project, with the goal of rejoining the World Tour in 2026," Lotto said in a media release.

Lotto lost its spot in the WorldTour three years ago in the last relegation cycle, though has since worked its way up the rankings and looked set for a return with both it and Intermarché Wanty - just - sitting among the top eighteen teams. Still budget and sponsorship is a critical issue for both, with Lotto having lost Dstny as a title sponsor last season and Circus also had to leave as a title sponsor of Intermarché Wanty in 2024 due to Belgian gambling laws.

Under these circumstances joining forces and combining sponsors and riders, became a topic for discussion with reports surfacing mid-year that a preliminary agreement had been struck between the Belgian squads for the now confirmed plan to apply for registration as a combined team for 2026.

"The license application had to be delivered to the UCI by October 15, and that deadline was met," said Lotto. "As previously communicated, the application was submitted under the Captains of Cycling structure. Through the joint Lotto-Intermarché project, the team aims to make its return to the World Tour after three years."

There are still many unknowns, one of the biggest being whether or not leading Intermarché sprinter Biniam Girmay will be on the squad racing alongside Lotto's Arnaud De Lie in 2026.

"The UCI will now further process the license application," said the Lotto release. "In the near future, the team will share more details about the structure, the development, and the sporting ambitions of this project."

The license applications are expected to be confirmed on October 18 as accepted but a definitive UCI WorldTour team list for the season ahead is usually not published until early December.