'It requires meticulous management' – How Intermarché-Wanty keep competing on the smallest budget in the WorldTour

MONTREAL QUEBEC SEPTEMBER 15 Biniam Girmay of Eritrea Francesco Busatto of Italy Alexy Faure Prost of France Lorenzo Rota of Italy Dion Smith of New Zealand Roel Van Sintmaartensdijk of The Netherlands Georg Zimmermann of Germany and Team Intermarche Wanty prior to the 13th Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal 2024 a 2091km one day race from Montreal to Montreal UCIWT on September 15 2024 in Montreal Quebec Photo by Alex BroadwayGetty Images
Intermarché-Wanty are run on the smallest budget in the WorldTour at €14 million per season (Image credit: Getty Images)

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.

Dani Ostanek
Senior News Writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.

Season highlights from the 2024 season include reporting from Paris-Roubaix –  'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix – and the Tour de France – 'Disbelief', gratitude, and family – Mark Cavendish celebrates a record-breaking Tour de France sprint win.