Lotto-Intermarché has secured a Grand Tour successor to Van Eetvelt: 'We always stayed in touch'

Lotto-Intermarché will lose two key riders from its roster after this season: sprinter and classics specialist De Lie and climber Van Eetvelt. The team had already prepared for De Lie’s departure by signing Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Emirates-XRG), Clément Venturini (Unibet Rose Rockets), and Stan Dewulf (Decathlon CMA CGM).

With Kamiel Eeman, Milan Donie, and Victor Vaneeckhoutte, the development team is already transferring a significant amount of climbing potential to the WorldTour team. Jarno Widar has also extended his contract. With Martin on board, Lotto-Intermarché’s climbing core looks set to be in good shape again for 2027.

The experienced Frenchman is a well-known name in the peloton. He turned pro in 2016 with Wanty-Groupe Gobert, the predecessor of Intermarché-Wanty, which merged with Lotto last winter. After four seasons, Martin moved to Cofidis, and then joined Groupama-FDJ United in 2025.

Throughout his career, Martin proved himself to be a tenacious general classification contender. In ten appearances in the Tour de France, he completed the race nine times and finished in the top 20 six times. On two occasions, he even finished in the top ten. In the Vuelta a España, he won the mountains classification in 2020 and finished ninth a year later.

He never won a stage in a Grand Tour, even though in recent years he had increasingly shifted his focus toward chasing stage victories. The eleven wins on his record are all from smaller French and Italian races.

At Lotto-Intermarché, Martin hopes to give his career another boost. “I believe I still have what it takes to compete for a top-ten finish in a Grand Tour,” he says ambitiously in a press release. “I have nothing but fond memories of my four years at Wanty-Groupe Gobert. CEO Jean-François Bourlart and I have known each other since then and have always stayed in touch.”

Martin’s contract with Groupama-FDJ United was not renewed, so he immediately called Lotto-Intermarché. “The WorldTour remains my domain, and I feel I still have something to contribute there. The Giro d’Italia is the only Grand Tour in which I haven’t yet finished in the top ten. So that’s something I still dream of. But of course, the Tour de France is also on my mind.”

Martin will have to perform, especially now that he’s signed a one-year contract. With his experience, he’ll also need to lead the younger riders. Bourlart is already optimistic. “We’re not just bringing him onto the team as a mentor. With his recent Vuelta (11th place, ed.), Guillaume has once again shown that he can still perform at a high level competitively.”