Lars Craps will remain with Lotto-Intermarché through to the end of 2028 after agreeing a two-year contract extension with the Belgian team.
The 24-year-old joined the squad at the start of 2025 and has developed into a versatile option for demanding one-day races, breakaways and hilly stage races. His progress was interrupted by another knee injury at the beginning of this season, but Craps fought his way back after surgery and rehabilitation to earn a first Tour de France selection.
The new deal gives Lotto-Intermarché continuity with a rider they believe still has considerable room to develop, while Craps stays in the environment which supported him through a difficult first half of 2026.
Craps rewarded after difficult return from knee surgery
The extension comes after a season which could easily have gone in a very different direction.
Craps required further knee surgery before rebuilding his condition through the spring. Rather than following a conventional race programme, much of the first part of his year was spent working simply to get back to the level required for WorldTour racing.
His return became increasingly encouraging once he reached the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Craps was already racing aggressively by Stage 4, joining the strong 12-rider breakaway which eventually produced Quinn Simmons’ victory.
That race provided the platform for what followed.
“I am very happy to be able to continue my journey with Lotto-Intermarché,” Craps said.
“The team has supported me in every possible way over the past two years. Thanks to that support, I was able to bounce back from my knee injury this spring, enjoy a great Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and make my Tour de France debut.”
Tour de France selection completed the comeback
Making Lotto-Intermarché’s Tour squad was an important milestone after the disruption earlier in the year.
Craps was selected alongside Arnaud De Lie, Lennert Van Eetvelt, Georg Zimmermann, Huub Artz, Jenno Berckmoes, Liam Slock and Baptiste Veistroffer. ProCyclingUK’s 2026 Tour de France team-by-team guide identified Lotto-Intermarché as a squad with several possible routes into stages rather than one built solely around De Lie’s sprint.
Craps increasingly demonstrated why he fitted that structure.
One of his most visible days came on Stage 13 to Belfort, when he made the large breakaway and attacked on the Ballon d’Alsace as the move began to split under pressure.
He did not convert that aggression into a stage win, but reaching that level only months after another knee operation was significant in itself.
Tour ultimately ended before Stage 16
Craps’ first Tour did not make it all the way to Paris.
He left the race before Stage 16, reducing Lotto-Intermarché’s options going into the final part of the Tour. His absence was one of the factors considered when we looked at which teams still had no stage victory late in the 2026 Tour de France.
That withdrawal did little to change the wider assessment of his season.
The important part for Lotto-Intermarché was that Craps had returned from surgery strongly enough not merely to race again, but to earn Tour selection and become involved in genuinely competitive breakaways at the highest level.
Lotto-Intermarché believe there is considerably more to come
General manager Jean-François Bourlart pointed particularly to the way Craps handled his rehabilitation.
“Lars has shown an incredible amount of character over the past few months,” Bourlart said.
“After undergoing knee surgery once again, he worked his way back to a high level with great patience and discipline.”
The team also values the flexibility of his racing profile.
Craps has the engine to pursue his own opportunities on selective terrain, but he can also be used entirely in support of teammates. That makes him useful across a broad programme rather than requiring the team to build races specifically around him.
“He has a powerful engine, is a rider who can both pursue his own opportunities and fully commit himself to the team, and we believe he is still far from reaching his full potential,” Bourlart said.
“That is why we are particularly pleased that he has committed his future to Lotto-Intermarché until the end of 2028.”
A useful fit for the way Lotto-Intermarché want to race
Craps’ profile also suits the broader identity Lotto-Intermarché have been developing.
The team can build faster races around De Lie, while Van Eetvelt gives them a genuine climbing option and riders such as Zimmermann provide established breakaway strength. Craps sits somewhere between those roles.
He is not a pure sprinter and does not need a summit finish. His better opportunities are likely to come on long, selective stages where durability and repeated climbing matter more than outright finishing speed.
Stage 13 of the Tour offered a good example. Craps had enough power to make the decisive break and enough climbing strength to remain involved once the Ballon d’Alsace began reducing it.
The question over the next two seasons is how often he can turn that type of presence into a result of his own.
Staying with Lotto-Intermarché was the obvious choice for Craps
Craps said the support he received during his injury problems made continuing with the same team straightforward.
“We both believe there’s still plenty of room to grow, so continuing this journey together was the obvious choice,” he said.
At 24, there is little reason for Lotto-Intermarché to regard the rider seen during the 2026 Tour as the finished version.
The first part of this season was about recovering from surgery. The middle of it was about proving he could return to WorldTour level. Making the Tour and attacking on stages such as Belfort showed how quickly that progression had happened.
The contract through to 2028 gives Craps another two seasons to find out what he can do with a full preparation rather than another comeback.
