Teams & Riders Inter Lotto Marché

[Samamba]

No Van De Wynckele ? wasn't he a neo prof ?

Why would being a neo pro matter?

Van de Wynkele is probably the worst rider of both teams combined. Only reason he went pro is cause Lotto didn't have money to spent last year.

 

[Berniece]

like 14(Lotto) and 16.5 (Intermarché).

Damn, that’s barely an improvement for all this hassle… I know 30M wasn’t realistic, but they are still well off from the average (28M)

 

[Samamba]

Damn, that’s barely an improvement for all this hassle… I know 30M wasn’t realistic, but they are still well off from the average (28M)

I mean Intermarché is an improvement compared to just folding. For Lotto no cause they could've just gottten a 20M budget without all this drama. It's ridiculous.

 

[Squire]

Why would being a neo pro matter?

Having a two-year contract.

But I guess some other departures had a contract for 2026 as well.

 

[Lexman]

Why would being a neo pro matter?

Van de Wynkele is probably the worst rider of both teams combined. Only reason he went pro is cause Lotto didn't have money to spent last year.

a mandatory 2 year contract?

 

[Samamba]

a mandatory 2 year contract?

So the same as every other rider with a contract for 2026? It's not cause someone is on a neopro contract that you can't "fire" them and pay them out.

 

[search]

is NIPPO still on board to fill the remaining spots with Japanese riders?

 

[Samamba]

is NIPPO still on board to fill the remaining spots with Japanese riders?

I think this whole possibly (not officially) linked Pro Team might have something to do with Nippo. No inside info but a hunch. I've heard Nippo was very mad about the merger thing, cause they weren't informed and had a 3 year contract with them. It also seems that there will only be one actual devo team (I heard a few Lotto and Intermarché u23 riders saying they couldn't stay because of it) so no spots for Japanese riders I would think.

But Bourlart and some others did go all the way to Japan 2 weeks ago, mid merger drama, so it seemed important. Maybe there's an agreement about something.

But yeah again, just a guess.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

If he hadn't already done that once, you could easily see Vaughters swoop in and steal Nippo from under their noses.

 

[Samamba]

If he hadn't already done that once, you could easily see Vaughters swoop in and steal Nippo from under their noses.

I also saw a rumor about Nippo replacing solution tech