'The UCI had concerns' - Lotto-Intermarché boss finally lifts the lid on the team's complex merger process

Lotto-Intermarché boss Jean-François Bourlart summed up the lengthy and sometimes tumultuous process of fusion between Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto this week, saying, “One thing's certain - I'm in no rush to do the same thing again.”

Bringing the ProTeam and WorldTour team under one roof was certainly not an easy operation. There were reports of financial difficulties, and riders and staff faced major uncertainty over their future - some were even let go only to be re-employed the following week. Former Lotto Thomas De Gendt, writing in his regular column for Cyclingnews, even went so far as to sum up his view of the fusion as "a bit of a shitshow."

At the Lotto-Intermarché team presentation, Boulart opted to break months of silence to discuss the process of fusion with the media, and he began by apologising for the lack of previous information.

"I'm talking to the press for the first time, and I must say I'm sorry for this lack of communication regarding the project," Bourlart told reporters, including Dernière Heure, at the presentation.

"It's not been an easy operation. At one point, the UCI themselves had concerns about the project. But at the end of it all, they almost congratulated us…

"One thing is certain - I'm in no rush to do the same operation again."

Bourlart explained that at Intermarché-Wanty, the situation had become too challenging financially to continue as a solo project, particularly when following an exceptionally good 2022 season and the dramatic progress shown by Biniam Girmay, they had failed to find the new sponsors they needed to back up an increasingly expensive project.

The team had therefore opted to open up talks with Lotto last May, but rather than the negotiations continuing discreetly after the Tour de France, the possibility of a merger had been leaked to the media, and the process became much more complicated.

In other statements reported by Cyclism'Actu, Bourlart recognised that "a maximum" number of team staff from the two squads had been retained, but that "others had had to find a new job."

"It wasn't the most fun part of the operation," he said, "but we had to go through with it, and today we're proud of the team we have."

The merger took a considerable amount of time, and the delays and absence of communication about the eventual outcome of the process sparked much media speculation. Bourlart said it was possible that the drawn-out process meant Girmay "looked for security and certainty in another team." Girmay ultimately signed with NSN for 2026 on a three-year deal.

"Biniam was very much in demand from other teams with big budgets," Bourlart said, before going on to point out, "We've done some very good things with him. Seeing him win in Gent-Wevelgem [in 2022] was a surprise, but not for us. Then there was that stage he won in the Giro d'Italia on a route designed for Mathieu van der Poel, his three wins in the Tour de France and the green jersey… it's incredible what we've been through in our little project."

With Girmay reportedly on an annual salary of €1 million once his contract was renegotiated after his Gent-Wevelgem victory, Bourlart agreed categorically that the team’s budget limitations had played a part in his departure.

"Certainly," he said, according to CyclismActu'. "There was the question of the sporting side and the budget. We had 43 riders under contract and we had to make choices. Some were unchangeable because the UCI made the riders from Lotto a priority. We didn't push Biniam out, there were offers, he made his choice."

The fusion has now gone ahead in any case, and the idea is to take the best from the two respective teams, Bourlart explained in Derniére Heure to try and improve all around. As he said, "One plus one doesn't add up to three, but we'll try to get as close as we can in that direction. certainly we'll try to make it more than two."