"Biniam Girmay is the smartest man in the world" - Bruyneel and Martin bash 'disaster' Lotto-Intermarché merger

An ambitious idea but one that has taken many twists and turns and remains very difficult to this day, as we are close to entering November. The Lotto-Intermarché - Wanty merger has been a big topic of dicussion for months but details about the new project are not fully clear, within team management and riders too. Spencer Martin and Johan Bruyneel harshly criticized what they deem to be a disaster situation and praise Biniam Girmay for having made the effort to depart the team before it all came down.

"I guess two big open cases here that need to be decided. A: If Biniam Girmay is racing for Lotto-Intermarché the combined team next year. We've been operating under the assumption that no, because Intermarché is shutting down, that license goes away, he's free to leave. Now we're finding out that if he leaves, Intermarché might not want to sponsor the new team so it begs the question why were they (Lotto, ed.) interested in the first place?" Spencer Martin questioned in The Move podcast. The two discussed the merger which should be made official in the coming weeks, but deep into the winter with other teams already in full swing preparing for the 2026 season.

However they greatly question why Lotto, climbing to the World Tour and having the new team under their license, wanted to merge with Intermarché. "I don't even know why they're interested even with Girmay because ok Girmay is obviously a great rider, they've been trying to find a co-sponsor for a while, they lost Dstny it was Lotto by itself, and they need extra money. But that merger in my opinion is a disaster in the making," Bruyneel argues.

"Very much uncertainty, we've read these reports of riders who were told at the last moment there's no place for them. Certain riders have contracts... there's one rider I think, if I'm not mistaking, the sprinter Gerben Thijssen, he will most likely make the move to Alpecin and Intermarché or the team has made the agreement that they'll pay for half his contract so really good deal for Alpecin to get a sprinter onboard, although I think his contract is a little too big for his value".

It is a chaotic situation, and one that supposedly Biniam Girmay would be avoiding after reportedly signing a contract with Israel - Premier Tech. However nothing has yet been announced, and that is because he was dragged into the negotiations and legal rule battle that has emerged because of the merger. "I was surprised to read this report, I don't know how much we can really rely on it but that the UCI is apparently blocking the situation of Biniam Girmay, his contract, and that right now he's a bit in limbo. I don't know what the exact reasons are or what the ruling says but I would guess that Girmay - if he has a contract with team intermarché and with the paying agent of Intermarché, since the paying agent is going ot be different with Lotto [...] and since Intermarché didn't submit an application for a World Tour license he's free," the Belgian pundit argued.

"The UCI and sporting regulations tend to think that their rules overrule normal rules, but I'm pretty sure that if Girmay has a good lawyer and goes to any labor court, it's a very short hearing, it's a five minute discussion," Bruyneel believes. The decision should be made after the confirmation of the 'new team's' status. "In my opinion GIrmay is free to leave, and I think it's almost - not officially yet - almost sure that he's already signed a deal with the 'Cycling Academy', formerly Israel - Premier Tech next year".

Martin argues that the Eritrean foresaw this, although he is now not able to move away from the chaos of the two Belgian teams. "Biniam Girmay is the smartest man in the world because we were sitting here in the summer saying 'what a fool. Why is he going to Israel - Premier Tech, so many problems, it's a disaster... Now Lotto-Intermarché are floundering around, do they have any money?"

"I don't even understand why they're merging Johan, because why wouldn't Lotto just say 'hey Intermarché shut that team down and come sponsor us', Girmay parachuted out of here and now he's going to go and be the headline rider of a new team and no-one will ever remember they were Israel - Premier Tech. if he can get off this team it's a pretty good situation".