‘Wake up, they’re spending your money’: Former sports director slams Intermarché-Wanty in Lotto merger storm

The merger between Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto is one born out of necessity. Both teams realised it was becoming difficult to continue on their own. For many, it’s a sensible step – but for others, it’s anything but good news. One of those people is Hilaire Van der Schueren, who helped build Intermarché from the very beginning, back when the team was still called Wanty-Groupe Gobert. Seeing what is happening now hurts him deeply.

Many riders and staff are having to make way for people coming across from Lotto. Old hands are being shown the door, and it is all happening at the last minute and in a very impersonal manner. Financially too, things have completely gone off the rails for the Belgian squad. The books showed three million euros of debt – and that isn’t something you just fix overnight, Van der Schueren knows.

“You can solve three million Belgian francs. But three million euros? I really don’t know what they’re going to do. Let the whole thing go bankrupt? I can’t wrap my head around it,” he fumed in Het Nieuwsblad. “CEO Jean-François Bourlart was always so proud: how he, together with Yves Lessens and Jean-Marc Rossignon, had built the cycling club from Ath into a WorldTour team. And now to let it be destroyed like this.”

According to Van der Schueren, all of this stems from mismanagement within the team itself. “I have to watch what I say, I don’t want to end up in court for slander, but I had warned Bourlart. ‘Wake up, they’re spending your money. Don’t you feel that? Here’s one example: do you think it’s normal that a team with no money goes on a training camp in Spain with one hundred people in December? Do you know what that costs?”

“If you can afford that, fine. But we couldn’t. Jean-François let it all slide too much. When I pointed it out, the answer was: ‘We need to professionalise.’ I agree – but only if you have the money for it.” For ten years, Van der Schueren was an ever-present at the team, guiding it from a tiny Pro-Continental outfit to a WorldTour squad.

“You have to understand: I joined Wanty in 2014 at a time when there wasn’t enough money to even form a team. With Collstrop, B&R and later Tormans, I brought in close to a million. I never took a percentage of that, never even asked. And in my first year I even said: there’s no money, so you don’t have to pay me. I’m the one who put the team on the map.”

For Van der Schueren, it was always crucial to keep the core of the team intact. Don’t do anything crazy – because you can only build on a solid base. Under his watch, the team often managed to get the very best out of its riders. That hasn’t been the case this season: Intermarché-Wanty has taken just four victories, something the 77-year-old Belgian struggles to comprehend.

“Gerben Thijssen – he’s a proper rider, isn’t he? Arne Marit should also be valuable for Intermarché-Wanty, but what kind of race programme does that boy get? Lorenzo Rota hasn’t won a single race for two years in a row. If Valerio Piva were still sports director, that would never happen. But you have to know how to handle him. It’s the same with Biniam: you can’t let him have his own way too much either. But now Bini is boss.”

“Another thing that doesn’t make sense: Intermarché-Wanty wants money from Visma | Lease a Bike for the transfer of Louis Barré,” he says. “But Arne Marit and Gerben Thijssen, who also had ongoing contracts, are allowed to leave for free? Now everything is on one man,” he concludes, referring to Girmay, who may yet stay despite all the transfer rumours.