'It’s a disaster' - Former Intermarché sports director slams looming Lotto merger

In an interview with Het Nieuwsblad, Van der Schueren says the decline never surprised him. “I must be careful with what I say, I do not want a lawsuit for slander, but I warned Jean François Intermarché CEO. Wake up they are spending your money. Do you not feel that.”

One example still leaves him shaking his head. “Do you find it normal that a team that has no money in December goes on a training camp to Albir with one hundred people. Do you know what that costs?”

His memories go back to 2014 when he arrived at a team with fragile finances. “There was not enough money to make a team. I brought in almost one million with Collstrop B and R and later Tormans. I never received one percent from that let alone asked for it. And in my first year I even said there is no money so you do not have to pay me.”

He describes how he helped lift the team. “I introduced Jean François and the people of Wanty to ASO after which we went to the Tour in 2017. I certainly did not do anything alone but I may say that the Wanty team is also a bit my team. I put so much energy into it. That is why it hurts to see them now moving toward the abyss.”

His criticism extends to rider management. “If you see which riders still always rode for the team. Gerben Thijssen, that is a real rider. Arne Marit must also be valuable for Intermarché Wanty but what programme does that boy get. Lorenzo Rota did not win a race two years in a row. With Valerio Piva as sports director, that would never have happened. But you must know how to approach him. The same with Biniam. You must not always let him do whatever he wants. But now Bini is boss.” 

Tactical choices are also questioned by Van der Schueren. “I do not understand the tactics in the following car. I was laughed at because in the Tour de France, I let Andrea Pasqualon and Timothy Dupont both sprint. But that put us on the podium in the team classification. Now everything is on one man. I understand you must protect Biniam, that is logical, but not with six men. How often do you still see a rider from Intermarché Wanty go in a break.”

Van der Schueren’s frustration runs high. “Since my departure, more than twenty staff members have left the team. It is a drama boy. They all resigned out of dissatisfaction with the people who now have the sporting power in the team. This is about agreements that were not respected also financial."

Concerns deepen when he describes the merger chaos. “At the merger, I am not involved myself, but my phone does not stop ringing. Many of the people I worked with do not know today where they stand. Strange things are happening. Mechanics who first have to leave and three weeks later receive a phone call with the request to please return." 

That confusion extends beyond the staff. Recently, CPA president Adam Hansen warned that riders are being “held hostage” by the merger, with forty-three riders under contract for only thirty places and little clarity on who stays or leaves. He criticised the mixed messages and the lack of communication from both teams, calling the situation “the sad truth” under Belgian labour law. 

Van der Schueren echoes the turmoil seen in the riders' roster. "Intermarché Wanty wants money from Visma | Lease a Bike for the transfer of Louis Barré, but Arne Marit and Gerben Thijssen, who also had a running contract, are allowed to leave for free.”

The 77-year-old ended by expressing his worries about the future of the team. Not because he wants to return, but because he recognises old patterns that once pushed the team to the edge. “What gives me the least confidence is that the same people who spent all that money are the first to make the step.”