Intermarché-Wanty performance manager Aike Visbeek shed light on the realities of life as the team with the smallest budget in the WorldTour, with the Belgian team's €14 million budget counting for less than a third of the division's richest squad UAE Team Emirates.
The Belgian called the first half of the 2024 season "perhaps the most difficult" in terms of keeping the team – which includes the WorldTour squad, the U23 development team, and a cyclocross operation – running smoothly. He also noted that Intermarché stepped up sponsorship as the team will lose key sponsor Circus due to the upcoming Belgian ban on gambling advertising.
Speaking to Het Laatste Nieuws, he also reflected on the downsides of budgetary constraints, which mean bigger teams can outbid Intermarché-Wanty on riders – Mike Teunissen being a notable example this year – while the team has to focus on internal development instead.
"It requires meticulous management," Visbeek said of battling to compete at the top level on a relatively low budget. "The first six months of the season until the Tour de France were perhaps the most difficult ever in terms of energy spent to keep everything running smoothly.
"We thought 'Now we're off' a few times, but due to some heavy crashes and some wrong decisions in the sprint trains of Biniam Girmay and Gerben Thijssen, the engine was sputtering again and again. It was only at the end of May that everything fell into place."
Of course, the team's superstar Girmay, came through at the Tour to score the team's biggest wins of the year. He left France with three stage wins and the green jersey, delivering once again at the top level following his breakthrough in the spring of 2022.
The Eritrean, who also won at the Surf Coast Classic and Circuit Franco-Belge, delivered five of the team's 13 wins in 2024. He finished the season ninth in the UCI rankings (the team ended up in 15th) and signed a contract extension shortly after the Tour, further boosting his reported €1 million yearly salary.
But despite that success – both the victories on the road and "a blessing" in keeping their star rider for longer – there are further difficulties to contend with this off-season as several key riders move away.
Young talent Madis Mihkels leaves for EF Education-EasyPost and ZLM Tour winner Rune Herregodts moves to UAE Team Emirates. Key lead-out man Mike Teunissen is also leaving.
"For 2025 we'll lose our 'last man' Mike Teunissen, which is very unfortunate. When Visma-Lease A Bike and Astana Qazaqstan started bidding we soon knew that we couldn't compete with them," Visbeek said.
"Mike is one of the best lead-outs in the world, so we were quickly talking about €500,000, which is too money much for us. We have to focus on internal alternatives – we have Petit, Page and Rex, who we want to move up a place in the sprint train."
Internal development is key to keeping the team succeeding in spite of their budgetary constraints, with Visbeek pointing to 22-year-old Francesco Busatto and junior European champion Felix Ørn-Kristoff as examples of their development focus.
Visbeek admitted that the transfer churn and constant need to find and develop stars on a limited budget can't go on forever, though.
"You can't keep doing it forever. Not that there is fear about what the future will bring, but we can't afford to 'sleep' and not think about the long-term," he said. "It shouldn't become a ticking time bomb. At a certain point, we'll have to take those necessary steps and grow.
"If not, then we'd risk bankruptcy unless the connection from the bottom up is perfect, and you always achieve the maximum result with the minimum number of people. That's a virtually impossible task, so it's about time that fresh money comes in."
In addition to maintaining the rider and staff roster to keep competing, sponsor cash flow is also required to avoid repeating what happened in September 2023, when the team was reprimanded by the UCI following late wage payments.
"[It was] a hard blow, to be in the news like that. Especially because it had nothing to do with incorrect or substandard budgeting, but with temporary cash flow problems," Visbeek said.
"But OK, even then it was not justifiable. It stuck with everyone and caused unrest. And above all, that financial limit also has a very inhibiting effect on contract negotiations and transfer files."
Now, after Circus' departure as a sponsor, there's space for another major sponsor. The team is focused on bringing another on board to bolster the finances, though Visbeek said "It's strange that the gap is so difficult to fill", especially given Girmay's success and marketability.
"[General manager] Jean-François Bourlart and COO Maxime Segers are working hard on it," Visbeek said. "With Girmay we have someone with his own identity, who made the front pages in America and stands out enormously on the international market. We sincerely hope that it will happen."
