{"id":64816,"date":"2025-08-13T20:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T20:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/64816\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T20:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T20:34:11","slug":"thats-what-we-want-to-avoid-lotto-boss-explains-importance-of-intermarche-merger-following-segaerts-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/64816\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThat’s what we want to avoid\u201d \u2013 Lotto boss explains importance of Intermarche merger following Segaert\u2019s exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week came confirmation that European time trial
\nchampion Alec Segaert<\/a> will leave Lotto<\/a> over the winter, joining Bahrain \u2013
\nVictorious in 2026. The move had been anticipated but still comes as a blow for
\nthe Belgian squad. Segaert will reunite with his older brother Lo\u00efc, who works
\nas one of Bahrain\u2019s performance coaches.<\/p>\n

“It’s a shame that we’re losing such a talented player.
\nBut we know the reason,” the team said in a press release. That reason,
\naccording to Lotto, ties directly to their ongoing merger talks with
\nIntermarch\u00e9\u2013Wanty. Sporting manager Kurt Van de Wouwer explained the context:
\n“There was never any uncertainty about the team’s future, but there was
\nuncertainty about the budgets available to work with. We did have the Lotto
\nbudget for 2026, but something needed to be added. It’s no secret that we spent
\na long time searching for a second sponsor.”<\/p>\n

Van de Wouwer believes the merger will be a game-changer for
\nretaining talent. The boost in financial resources, he said, was pursued
\n“so that we wouldn’t have to lose riders like Alec in the future. Because
\nif that merger had been completed earlier, it would have opened up
\nopportunities for riders like Alec.” The aim, he added, is to keep
\npromising riders long enough to benefit from their development.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“And that’s what we want to avoid. We want them to
\nperform at their peak with us for a few years first, and only then leave.
\nBecause at some point, they’ll leave when the big money comes around\u2014you can’t
\navoid that. But we want to reap the benefits first. I think Tim Wellens is the
\nbest example of that: he rode for us for ten years, combining his promising and
\nprofessional periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if you then go to the UAE at some point: no problem.
\nBut they can’t leave too young. That’s why the merger with Intermarch\u00e9 is a
\ngood thing: to prevent what’s happening now with Alec.”<\/p>\n

For his part, Segaert is optimistic about his future.
\n“The team is professional and ambitious. I am too, and I hope this move
\nwill help me achieve new goals in my career. I’m convinced I’ll fit in well
\nwith the classics team and be a valuable asset to the GC riders in the stage
\nraces,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week came confirmation that European time trial champion Alec Segaert will leave Lotto over the winter,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-64816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}