Biniam Girmay‘s future is in limbo and he does not yet know which team he will ride for in 2026, as the expected merger between Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty drags on into the off-season.
Girmay is apparently at home in Eritrea, waiting to see if the merger is completed before next Friday’s key November 1 UCI deadline. If the merger falls through, his agent Alex Carera has reportedly negotiated a deal with the Israel-Premier Tech team, which next year will rebrand and move away from its Israeli identity. The team was listed as ‘Cycling Academy’ in the UCI’s list of team submissions for 2026.
On Monday, the UCI confirmed that Lotto but not Intermarché-Wanty had registered for 2026 WorldTour status, meaning that the Lotto team owners will be legally responsible for the new WorldTour team in 2026. The UCI also confirmed that riders from the teams that had failed to initially register for 2026 ‘may terminate their contracts early’.
That perhaps opened the door for Girmay to terminate his 2026 contract with Intermarché-Wanty and move to the new-look ‘Cycling Academy’ team. However, as always, the devil of the UCI regulations is always in the details. The UCI specified that the possibility of terminating a contract has to be ‘in accordance with the UCI Regulations and subject to other applicable provisions.’
Cyclingnews has been told that the UCI has somehow used its regulations to ‘block’ Girmay from terminating his contract as the 2026 registration process is completed and the final 30-rider roster is confirmed. Despite Lotto now taking forward the team registration process, the UCI somehow considers Lotto joining forces with Intermarché as a merger.
18 riders have contracts with Intermarché-Wanty for 2026, with Girmay’s likely lucrative contract, signed after he won three stages and the points jersey at the 2024 Tour de France, running until the end of 2028.
According to Het Laatste Nieuws, who are following the Lotto-Intermarché merger closely, a number riders have found new teams or are retiring, while…
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