Could Tom Pidcock be the new leader of Ineos Grenadiers in their new era? Photo: Dario Belingeri/Getty Images
After weeks of lengthy negotiations, Sir Jim Ratcliffe's £1.35 billion purchase of 25 per cent of Manchester United is expected to finally be completed before Christmas. If the deal finally goes through, it will mark the end of one of football's longest-running sagas. It will also mark the end of an era for Ineos Grenadiers, Ratcliffe's cycling team.
As part of the deal, Sir Dave Brailsford, Ineos' sporting director, is expected to step down as team boss. Grenadiers as he takes over the leadership role at Old Trafford, severing the last – and greatest – remaining link to the original Team Sky squad.
With strong players such as Rod Ellingworth, the team's deputy principal, who resigned last month, Fran Millar, who now runs Ratcliffe's clothing brand Belstaff, and Shane Sutton, semi-retired after the trials and tribulations of various doping investigations and bullying – all of which he denied; from the original Sky lineup, only Carsten Jeppesen, the long-time head of the team's technical partners, really remained. And the Dane has never been a guest.
Since Ineos took charge of the team in 2019, they have seen almost constant changes. Chris Froome, who won four of his seven Sky Tour titles in the 2010s, has quit the team after a career-threatening accident. Egan Bernal, the man they hoped would headline their grand tour for the next decade, was himself in a life-threatening accident and has never been the same since. Ellingworth left to manage Bahrain-McLaren, then returned to “manage” the Grenadiers, although it seemed he was never in full control as Brailsford was still on the scene, albeit in a more distant location.
The team's last Grand Tour victory came in 2021, when Egan Bernal won the Giro d'Italia. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP
Influential coaches such as Tim Kerrison, who was a major factor in Froome's success, have also left, and Nicolas Portal, the hugely popular French sporting director who oversaw almost all of the team's successes on Tour, tragically died in 2020 year.
The constant change of teams has cycling fans wondering what Ineos Grenadiers are like these days and casual fans wondering what happened to them. Why aren't they winning anymore?
As Brailsford's imminent departure closes a chapter on their past, Telegraph Sport looks at what the future holds for the once dominant team.
Identity: Rediscover it and define new goals< p>In some relationships, not much has changed when it comes to their identity. Just like 10 years ago, the Grenadiers are now training in Mallorca. Along the same roads, the same climbs; Sa Calobra. Cap de Formentor. However, from the team's point of view the picture is completely different. Ten years ago, Team Sky headed into the 2014 season on the heels of Chris Froome's first Tour win. The big question was which of Froome or Wiggins, the 2012 winner, they were going to bring back for the 2014 Tour. Can these two heavyweights of British cycling play well together? The big question now is what the Grenadiers are doing. What do they mean? What are their goals?
Sir Dave Brailsford is on track for a job at Manchester United. Photo: Martin Rickett/PA
Brailsford's departure may not actually be a big deal, according to some sources. Even when he was actively involved in OGC Nice, restructuring the Ligue 1 club (to decent effect, it now seems), he was still involved with the cycling team. Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc, chief executive of Ineos Sport, will continue to carry out monthly inspections of their sports facilities, returning to Ratcliffe.
Cycling is Brailsford's main passion, so he will naturally take a keen interest in the current fortunes of the Grenadiers. It's still his child. And in terms of identity, Brailsford's legacy runs deep. One source says that every time a decision is made, there is still a gut reaction of “What would Dave do?” They may not be the giants they were, but the team still wants to stick to the same script, pushing the boundaries when it comes to research and development, innovating rather than settling for second place while trying to get back to the top.
Structure: New and “interesting” structure after Ellingworth’s departure
This is changing. Ellingworth's departure and the expected departure of Brailsford provide an opportunity to reboot the team along the Ineos “federal sport state” template under the leadership of a chief executive. A new CEO was announced last week: John Allert. Allert, an Australian who has lived in the UK for the past 20 years, was previously marketing director at McLaren F1 and then oversaw their brief foray into professional cycling with the Bahrain-Merida team. When Ellingworth returned to Ineos, Allert became managing director with him. He will be the liaison with Ineos Sport and is business-savvy and responsible.
Below him will be Scott Drower, who was announced as production director in the same announcement last week. Draver was most recently head of the sports department at Millfield. He is familiar with the GB sporting and team system, having led research and innovation across five Olympic cycles.
Below the box there will be various groups; sporting directors, led by new racing director Steve Cummings; trainers; a research and development team that includes former Mercedes F1 aerodynamicist and former watch record holder Dan Bigham and his old Huub-Wattbike buddy Johnny Whale.
⏪ Looking back to 2022: Dan Bigham, aerodynamicist and race engineer for the British cycling team Ineos Grenadiers, broke the hour record with a 34.5-mile ride around the Tissot Velodrome in Switzerland pic.twitter. com/7lpgeuEVEO
— Reuters (@ Reuters) December 31, 2022
“It’s an interesting time,” says one team source. “With the departure of trainers, riders and DS like Roger Hammond, there have been a lot of changes. But I think the DS group is as strong now as it has ever been, with Steve, Imanol Erviti, Ian Stannard, Christian Nys. Rod's emotional intelligence was so good that they might have missed it. Steve has rubbed people the wrong way in the past. But they have great coaches and riders, and with Drower and Bigham it looks like there will be a real breakthrough in R&D again.”
Performance: Turning the riders into another top team
Sources say Drawer will take a more modern approach with Grenadiers. Having dominated for much of the 2010s, Ineos have been knocked out of their positions by UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma in recent seasons, and there is an understanding that the situation is about to change.
Last season was definitely well below par, although that's always relative. They still won quite a few races and things would have looked very different if Geraint Thomas had been hanging on to the Giro. As it was, things went south in 2023 with a directionless Tour (although somewhat saved by two stage wins) and an even worse Vuelta.
The problem for Ineos is that they don't have Tadej Pogacar, a generational Grand Tour winner, or the team strength that Jumbo-Visma has. They used to have both. Egan Bernal was supposed to be their Grand Tour winner for the next decade, but his accident changed everything. Equally worryingly, Ineos has seen an exodus of talented riders such as Tao Geoghegan Hart, Pavel Sivakov, Ben Tullett and Dani Martinez, without big names moving in a different direction. Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel and Cian Uitdebrox were linked. But no one came.
Filippo Ganna is one of Ineos' the strongest assets. Photo: Anne-Christine Pujula/AFP
The team has several excellent riders and young promising players. Filippo Ganna is obviously incredible, but Jim Ratcliffe wants to win the Tour, not the hour record. Tom Pidcock is already a superstar, although the Grand Tours are still a work in progress. He will need to withdraw from next year's Paris Olympics before he can perform well at the Tour. Carlos Rodriguez finished fifth in this year's Tour, which was perhaps the biggest positive of the season. Others, such as Josh Tarling and Magnus Sheffield, are considered stars of the future. It's about their development.
Financing: money should not remain a problem
Ineos Grenadiers no longer have the financial wherewithal to knock everyone else out of the running. UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma have equally deep pockets. But they certainly have something to compete with. And it's a wholly owned team, which is something to be envied about. Money shouldn't be an issue as long as Ratcliffe is willing to continue shouldering the costs. There's no suggestion he plans to pull out, especially with the team so close to Brailsford's heart.
Goal: Win the Tour again and rebuild the team around a young rider 
The team's best result since winning the 2019 Tour de France with Egan Bernal is Geraint Thomas' third in 2022 (pictured) and Richard Carapaz's third in 2021. Photo: Etienne Garnier/Getty Images
To win the Tour. It is so simple. Ineos have put a lot of effort into racing in a more dynamic style in recent seasons, with Pidcock maintaining entry into cyclocross and classic racing (and performing brilliantly in both), as well as taking the team's first win at Paris-Roubaix. But Ratcliffe appears to be focused on the Tour again. This will not happen in 2024.
Geraint Thomas, who like fellow old-timers Luke Rowe and Ben Swift has signed a contract extension, is desperate to win the Giro after coming so close so many times. But with Rodriguez and Pidcock not yet ready, he may have to lead the Tour team again in 2024, and a podium finish would be the best he could realistically hope for if Vingegaard and Pogacar remained upright. But in 2025?
The team hopes that the combination of Drawer and Bigham, as well as a push for data-driven research and development – “little gains for the digital age,” as one source described it – could lead to a new golden era. “When Team Sky started, they had a guy who finished fourth in the Tour [Wiggins]. Now they have a young driver who finished fifth and won a stage. This is not a microwave, you can’t take them out in two minutes. But there is an opportunity to build a team around Rodriguez or Pidcock, and there are some great young talents there like Sheffield and Tarling, as well as some great coaches and DS who can get the best out of them. It’s not all doom and gloom.”
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