Orbea and Lotto-Intermarché: Bikes for a Team Back in the WorldTour

The morning mist thickens the air. Small fires burn in the citrus groves and a deep, sweet scent drifts across the landscape. Oranges fill fruit crates along the roadside, the colored boxes blending with all shades of cyclists who practically take over the Valencian roads in the first weeks of December.
Time goes fast and, once again, the whole world seems to be here, as if during these days nothing else exists beyond this land.

In a hotel in Alicante, bustle breaks the low-season silence: Lotto has landed, bringing the full logistical machine of a big cycling team.
Yet something catches the eye of the curious observer. The unmistakable Lotto deep red is mixed with the white and fluorescent tones of another legendary Belgian squad. These are not two teams sharing a hotel, but a single unit that has fused into one, built to dominate the WorldTour scene from now on.

The announcement came on December 10th, when the UCI officially approved the Lotto-Intermarché alliance, a partnership set to last at least three years and granted WorldTour status.

Each side brings a key element to the union: Lotto contributes top-level technical partnerships—Orbea among them—while Intermarché adds a solid structure and an innovative mindset focused on continuous technological refinement.

With new bikes, Shimano joining the project as an official partner and a whole season ahead, last December’s training camp was the first real chance to push both bodies and bikes to the limit. Long days on the saddle and countless tests designed to fine-tune every detail before racing begins.

For Lotto-Intermarché, Orca Aero will be the key protagonist in the opening months of the season. With the spring Classics and one-day races shaping the early calendar, the team relies on a bike built around aerodynamic efficiency and pure speed. In these races, every watt matters, and the Orca Aero rewards effort when the pace remains high for extended periods.

As the season moves towards stage races, Orca will increasingly claim its place alongside the Orca Aero. Riders already familiar with the Orca quickly reconnected with its character: a light, responsive machine, perfectly suited to climbing and demanding terrain. The new members of the team know now how it flows through winding climbs and reacts to pace changes, and fell for it straight away. The new aero handlebar improves ergonomics and control, while the balance between stiffness and lightness continues to define the Orca experience.

Ordu also steps into the spotlight as part of the team’s arsenal. Dedicated to the race against the clock, this time trial bike is the result of precise aerodynamic calculations and an ongoing process of refinement. Drawing directly on the experience and feedback of Lotto-Intermarché, Ordu continues to evolve as a specialist tool, offering efficiency and ergonomic adjustability for sustained, high-power efforts.

All three bikes were thoroughly tested during the December training camp, laying the foundations for a season in which equipment, preparation and performance move forward together as Lotto-Intermarché embarks on a new and unprecedented year of racing.
Now it is time to put the alliance to the test, to set it in motion, to submit it to the verdict of the kilometres and to shape it definitively in competition. This is how the future begins, building up confidence and ambition on the asphalt. The goal is always the same: to go far and to be the first; but the way to get there—the only way we know how in Orbea—remains unchanged: moving forward together.