Guillaume Martin will join Lotto-Intermarché for the 2027 season after signing a one-year contract, returning to a Belgian team seven years after leaving the Wanty structure where he established himself as a professional.
The 33-year-old moves across from Groupama-FDJ United after two seasons with the French team and arrives with a dual role. Martin still wants opportunities to pursue his own general classification ambitions, particularly at the Grand Tours, while Lotto also see his experience as useful within one of the youngest squads in the peloton.
His recent 11th place at the Vuelta a España has encouraged him to keep chasing major GC results rather than move fully into a support role.
“I may have flown a little under the radar over the past two years,” Martin said. “I still believe I have what it takes to fight for a top-ten finish in a Grand Tour. Finishing eleventh in the recent Vuelta reinforces that belief.”
Martin returns to the organisation where his WorldTour career began
The move carries a strong element of familiarity.
Martin spent four seasons with Wanty-Groupe Gobert between 2016 and 2019, initially joining when the Belgian team was still operating outside the WorldTour. He developed there from a young professional into a rider capable of finishing high in major stage races before moving to Cofidis for 2020.
His relationship with Jean-François Bourlart continued after leaving.
“Returning to a Belgian team was my first choice,” Martin said. “I have nothing but good memories of my four years with Wanty-Groupe Gobert. CEO Jean-François Bourlart and I know each other from that time and we have always stayed in touch.
“When I knew I had to look for a new team, I called him straight away. Of course, a lot has changed since 2019, but at the same time, I’m not stepping completely into the unknown. I’m very happy to be back.”
Martin subsequently spent five seasons with Cofidis before joining Groupama-FDJ ahead of 2025.
That move was intended to give him a new environment after a long period as one of Cofidis’s main general classification riders. Two years later, he is changing teams again, this time returning to a structure with clear links to the early part of his career.
Eleventh at the Vuelta showed Martin still has GC ambitions
Martin’s results over the last two seasons have not matched the strongest years of his career, but his Vuelta performance came at an important time.
He finished 11th overall after three weeks in which the race became increasingly difficult through the final mountain stages.
Martin also continued racing in the manner that has characterised much of his career, looking for opportunities in breakaways rather than simply defending a position in the general classification. On Stage 19 to Peñas Blancas, he was part of the large move which ultimately produced the fight for the stage victory, with Groupama-FDJ United placing several riders at the front.
The Stage 19 race report showed Martin again trying to turn an aggressive day into an opportunity rather than protecting a relatively secure GC position.
Eleventh overall subsequently gave him enough encouragement to keep pursuing top-10 finishes.
“The WorldTour remains my terrain and I feel I still have something to achieve there,” Martin said.
The Giro d’Italia is particularly interesting.
Martin has finished inside the top 10 at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España during his career but has yet to achieve the same result at the Giro.
“The Giro d’Italia is the only Grand Tour in which I haven’t finished in the top ten yet, so that remains a dream of mine,” he said. “But of course, the Tour de France is also on my mind. For every French rider, and really for every rider, it remains a very special race.”
Lotto want Martin to race for himself as well as support younger riders
Martin will be one of the older riders in a Lotto-Intermarché squad increasingly shaped around younger talent.
That experience is part of the appeal, but Bourlart stressed that the Frenchman has not been signed simply to become a road captain.
“Guillaume is obviously a rider we know very well,” Bourlart said. “Since our first period together, he has gained a huge amount of experience at the very highest level. That experience is extremely valuable within our young squad.
“At the same time, we are not bringing him in solely as a mentor. Guillaume showed again at the recent Vuelta that he can still perform at a very high level.”
The team intend to give Martin opportunities to chase results while also using him to help younger riders develop.
That balance appealed to Martin.
“At 33, I’ll raise the average age of the youngest team in the peloton a little,” he joked.
“But that’s also why I’ll have an interesting dual role. In certain races, I’ll have the opportunity to pursue my own ambitions, while at the same time I want to share my experience and act as a road captain for the young talents within the team. That combination really appeals to me.”
Martin gives Lotto another option for the harder stage races
Martin’s arrival also adds a profile Lotto have been missing as the 2027 roster changes around them.
He is not a conventional GC leader who requires a team to spend an entire stage race protecting his position. Much of his career has been built around consistency, climbing endurance and an ability to move into breakaways without completely abandoning the general classification.
That can give Lotto flexibility.
Martin can start a one-week race with his own GC target and change approach if he loses time. At a Grand Tour, he can chase a top 10 while still becoming a stage option if the overall battle moves beyond reach.
His strongest Tour de France result remains eighth overall in 2021, while he was tenth in 2023. He also won the mountains classification at the 2020 Vuelta.
The rider joining Lotto is older than the one who first left Bourlart’s team after 2019, but he also arrives with years of Tour, Giro and Vuelta experience that can be used without taking away his own chances.
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Photo Credit: Getty
Lotto-Intermarché continue adding experience for 2027
Martin is the latest experienced rider added to a Lotto-Intermarché roster undergoing substantial change.
Stan Dewulf will return to the team through 2028, bringing Classics experience back to the organisation where he began his professional career.
Clément Venturini has also signed through 2028, with the Frenchman expected to return to a more clearly defined puncheur role.
The sprint group is changing too, with Juan Sebastián Molano joining on a two-year contract after eight seasons with UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Martin gives Lotto something different from all three.
He adds a proven Grand Tour climber who can take responsibility in stage races while also working with younger riders when his own ambitions are secondary.
The broader picture of Lotto’s recruitment can be followed through the 2027 men’s cycling transfers hub.
One season to prove there is still more to come
The one-year length of Martin’s contract makes 2027 an important season for both rider and team.
He is not signing a long deal that automatically takes him deep into the final phase of his career. Instead, he has one year to show that the level he produced at the Vuelta can be converted into another significant Grand Tour result.
Martin believes it can.
Lotto-Intermarché believe enough in that possibility to give him his own opportunities rather than treating his move as the beginning of a transition into full-time support work.
For Martin, it also means returning to the Belgian environment where his professional career first gathered momentum.
Seven years after leaving Wanty, he comes back with considerably more experience and the same basic target: proving he can still finish among the best riders in the hardest stage races.
