Intermarché-Wanty needs to look for additional income: "If not, we risk bankruptcy"

This also goes for Intermarché-Wanty. The Belgian team has the smallest budget in the WorldTour, with 14 million euros, half of the average. "It requires careful and meticulous management. Sometimes it's really about counting every penny," performance manager Aike Visbeek told Het Laatste Nieuws. "The first six months up to the Tour were perhaps the hardest ever in terms of energy consumption, just to keep everything running smoothly. A few times, we thought, now we're on track. But due to some wrong decisions in the sprint trains of Bini Girmay and Gerben Thijssen and severe crashes, that engine kept stalling. Things only fell into place around the end of May."

Despite the financial puzzle, the Belgian team managed to stay afloat reasonably well: a fifteenth place in the UCI ranking, with superstar Biniam Girmay in the individual top ten. "To keep working with this tight budget, for example, you have to fully invest in talent development. And make optimal use of the available potential. Exactly what we are doing." Issues arise with departing key players, including Mike Teunissen. "Very unfortunate. When Visma-Lease a Bike and later Astana (where he eventually signed, ed.) started bidding, we quickly knew: we can't compete with this."

"Mike, like Danny van Poppel, is among the best lead-outs in the world," the Dutchman continues. "We're talking at least half a million euros. Too much money for us. So we focus on internal alternatives. We have Petit. Page and Rex too, whom we want to move up a spot in the train. Rex will take Mike's spot, Page will take Rex's spot. Then we'll add to that younger talents like Vansintmaartensdijk, Braet and newcomer and European champion Huub Artz."

These aren't the names you'd expect as regular lead-outs for the green jersey winner in the Tour de France. The Eritrean has committed his future to the team: he has re-signed until 2028. "Now we just need to switch gears and go for our next dream starting from 2025. I told CEO Jean-François Bourlart: a classic Monument. With Bini, initially." Besides Girmay, Intermarché-Wanty also wants to focus on the development of Gerben Thijssen, who impresses with his speed but also had a lot of bad luck in 2024.

Young talent is also an important asset for the formation. Guys like the Italian Francesco Busatto and the Norwegian Felix Ørn-Kristoff, Alexander Kristoff's brother, should be the future. "The easiest thing would be to bring in some riders who just had a fantastic season and, say, add a strong GC rider next to Bini and the rest to provide more calm and balance. But that's financially unfeasible."

The main directive: growth. Financially, steps need to be taken. "If not, we risk bankruptcy, unless the support from below works out perfectly and you always achieve the maximum result with the minimum number of people. But that's a nearly impossible task. So it's time for fresh money to come in." After the departure of shirt sponsor Circus, a gap has arisen, which is not easily filled. "With Girmay, we have someone with his own identity, who made front pages in America and stands out enormously in the international market. We sincerely hope it still happens."