OFFICIAL: Lotto-Intermarché bring cycling’s ‘philosopher’ back to Belgian roots as five-time Tour de France top-15 finisher targets Grand Tour resurgence

Guillaume Martin will leave Groupama - FDJ United at the end of 2026 after signing a one-year contract with Lotto-Intermarché, seven years after his first spell in Jean-François Bourlart's Belgian structure came to an end.

The 33-year-old arrives with considerably more than a road-captain role in mind. Martin has just finished 11th overall at the Vuelta a Espana and still believes another Grand Tour top 10 is within reach, despite a 2026 season in which his Tour de France challenge never developed and he eventually finished 31st.

“I may have flown a little under the radar over the past two years,” Martin said as Lotto-Intermarché confirmed the move. “I still believe I have what it takes to fight for a top-ten finish in a Grand Tour. Finishing eleventh in the recent Vuelta reinforces that belief.”

That confidence comes from a rider whose Grand Tour record has long been built on consistency rather than victories. Martin has finished inside the top 15 of the Tour de France five times, reaching eighth overall in 2021 and 10th in 2023, while he was also ninth at the 2021 Vuelta and won the mountains classification there in 2020.

His latest Vuelta ended just one place outside another top 10, with Martin seventh on Stage 19 to Peñas Blancas before eventually finishing 11th overall.

Martin's move comes after two seasons with Groupama-FDJ United, a spell which began with victories at the Classic Grand Besançon Doubs and Tour du Jura in 2025 but has produced fewer standout results in 2026.

He still reached 10th overall at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes before the Tour de France, then recovered from his 31st-place finish there to put together a much stronger three weeks at the Vuelta.

The Giro d'Italia is now one of the remaining targets he has identified for the next phase of his career. “The Giro d’Italia is the only Grand Tour in which I haven’t finished in the top ten yet, so that remains a dream of mine,” Martin said. “But of course, the Tour de France is also on my mind. For every French rider, and really for every rider, it remains a very special race.”

Lotto-Intermarché also gives Martin a return to the Belgian setup where he spent four seasons between 2016 and 2019 with Wanty-Groupe Gobert. That period included his first Tour de France appearances and his development into a regular GC contender before he left for Cofidis ahead of the 2020 season. Martin then spent five years there before joining Groupama-FDJ United for 2025.

The link with Bourlart never disappeared. “Returning to a Belgian team was my first choice,” Martin said. “I have nothing but good memories of my four years with Wanty-Groupe Gobert. CEO Jean-François Bourlart and I know each other from that time and we have always stayed in touch.

“When I knew I had to look for a new team, I called him straight away. Of course, a lot has changed since 2019, but at the same time, I’m not stepping completely into the unknown. I’m very happy to be back.”

Martin will also bring a sizeable amount of experience into what Lotto-Intermarché describe as the youngest squad in the peloton. “At 33, I’ll raise the average age of the youngest team in the peloton a little,” he joked. “But that’s also why I’ll have an interesting dual role. In certain races, I’ll have the opportunity to pursue my own ambitions, while at the same time I want to share my experience and act as a road captain for the young talents within the team.”

Bourlart is equally clear that Martin has not been signed simply as an experienced presence. “We are not bringing him in solely as a mentor,” the Lotto-Intermarché CEO said. “Guillaume showed again at the recent Vuelta that he can still perform at a very high level. We want to give him the freedom to pursue strong results of his own, while also counting on him to help guide our young riders, both on and off the bike.”

Martin will start 2027 back alongside a manager and environment he already knows, but with a very different status to the rider who first left Wanty-Groupe Gobert in 2019. This time he returns as a five-time Tour top-15 finisher, former Vuelta KOM winner and experienced Grand Tour leader still chasing one more top-10 breakthrough.