Merger between Intermarché and Lotto still harms riders: 'They are being held hostage'

There’s still very little clarity around the Lotto–Intermarché merger. It’s happening — that much is certain — but who gets to stay and who has to make way? That remains a mystery, even for the riders themselves. It’s a grim situation, says Adam Hansen, president of the riders’ union CPA.

That riders — and staff — would have to leave in the impending merger has long been obvious. “As a WorldTour team you can have a maximum of 30 riders under contract; together both teams have 43,” Hansen told Sporza. “From the new team’s perspective, that’s a dream scenario: they can simply choose who they want to continue with and who not."

But from the riders’ point of view it’s unfair, because they’re being held hostage by this situation,” Hansen continued. “As long as they have an ongoing contract, they can’t leave the team. So they have to just sit and wait for news.” That’s why Hansen entered talks with the UCI and both teams’ managers, which produced a list of riders who would have to depart.

The idea was to create clarity for those who needed to find a new team. But that clarity didn’t come — and still hasn’t — from the teams. “Even riders who were 100% certain to stay came to me to ask whether they were in or out. That shows how poor the communication is between the team and the riders.”

Most of the issues seem to be resolved, but there’s still uncertainty for a small number of riders. That’s tied to the wishes of one of the project’s biggest stars. “A lot depends on Biniam Girmay. If he decides to stay with the merged team after all, then one rider will still lose his job,” Hansen said.

“I also know of a rider who was on the cut list and had found another team. Yet the merger team wouldn’t let him go, because they kept hesitating over whether to keep him after all.” Hansen may be hinting at Louis Barré, who has been linked with Visma | Lease a Bike; that move was reportedly blocked by his current team.

“That suggests Lotto and Intermarché weren’t entirely honest with the UCI and us when they showed that list of departures,” Hansen added. “That’s what I mean by riders being held hostage. The teams can decide to hold a rider to his contract or not, but the rider can’t decide whether he wants to stay or not.”

A painful — but honest — conclusion is that there is an imbalance of power between riders and teams. It's not the UCI rules that reinforce that imbalance, but this time, it's the Belgian national legislation. “That law allows teams to wait, even until, say, 31 December, to inform riders. That’s the sad truth,” Hansen said.

“If a rider hears in July or August that he can’t stay and he can’t find a team for the next year, that’s partly on him,” he acknowledged. “But if he only hears that in October or November — as in this case — then the fault lies with the team. All rosters are already full for 2026, and that’s not fair.”