Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty merger documents have been filed with the UCI
After a convoluted journey towards a merger, the Belgian squads Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto have reportedly presented a formal application to the UCI, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
A letter of intent related to the merger first surfaced during the Tour de France, which proposed the joining of forces of the WorldTeam (Intermarché) and ProTeam (Lotto). The planned merger was complicated by the revelation last week of a substantial debt incurred by Continuum Sports NV, the owner of the Intermarché license, which ended last season some €2 million in the red.
How this has been resolved is unclear, but sponsor confirmations and a bank guarantee have reportedly been included with the team's application. The UCI will now move to approve it (or not), with a verdict expected by the end of this week.
The merger of the two teams seems set to exacerbate an already challenging landscape for out-of-contract riders. For a thirty rider maximum for the new team, seven riders will need their contracts paid out; another eight from the combined cohort are without teams for next year. Arkéa-B&B Hotels is also set to shut down at the end of the season, making for a high-stakes game of musical chairs with not enough seats for the unsecured riders of the peloton.
