Not great from Sheffield and Tarling today in DDV. Well off the pace. It was a good March and the team is racing in a better style but I’m concerned about a lack of results (and particularly wins) across the rest of the season. Last year they won Amstel and Romandie and were on the podium in the Giro in April/May for example. Hard to see them matching those results this year…
- Sep 2, 2011
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Tarling looks worse than last year on the cobbles.
Sheffield looked ok today considering it was his first cobble race this season and his main asset is always going to be endurance (so better suited for Flanders I think).
Sheffield looked ok today considering it was his first cobble race this season and his main asset is always going to be endurance (so better suited for Flanders I think).
Ganna’s comments after Flanders don’t appear very encouraging for Roubaix which is a shame but he’s never looked entirely convincing on the cobbles if we’re being honest.
I think he was also in a bad mood because he didn't want to ride it. Roubaix does suit him a lot more, though, so let's see.
- Oct 1, 2014
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& to think there were idiots on here who mocked INEOS for hiring a sprint coach when they didn't have a sprinter...Ewan wins again..
- Oct 21, 2012
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Fair play to the new management. Getting rid of Pidcock was a good first move. and now the rest of the team are starting to perform well above expectations. Eight riders already with victories, from what looked like a mediocre squad.
Whether Pidcock was the main culprint or not, the style of racing coming from Ineos these days is much more likeable and interesting at least from my point of view.
- Feb 9, 2013
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I like Pidcock but I think both parties are better off. Pidcock is off doing his own thing with radio station Q36.5, and I think Ineos is just generally much more likeable now than during the Froome years simply because they're not obnoxiously dominating. (Heh, I've actually become a fan of Ineos.)
Ineos Grenadiers are close to agreeing a multimillion-pound sponsorship deal with TotalEnergies that insiders believe will restore the team’s status as one of the strongest in the peloton.
The agreement will also enable Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos chairman, to make further savings across his sports portfolio as he focuses more of his attention on his co-ownership of Manchester United.
But the partnership between Ineos and TotalEnergies, another petrochemicals giant, is seen as an essential step in securing the investment required for the cycling team to become more competitive in a men’s peloton now being dominated by Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike, the team of Jonas Vingegaard.
Ratcliffe spends about £40million a year on the cycling team he bought from Sky in March 2019. He initially enjoyed seeing their dominance of the Tour de France continue when Egan Bernal claimed victory in Paris four months later. It was the team’s seventh Tour triumph in eight years, with Bernal their fourth rider to finish in the Yellow Jersey after the successes of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.
But the team have suffered a decline despite Ratcliffe’s financial backing, with 2024 having been their worst season to date.
Ratcliffe has made no secret of a desire to cut his spending in sport, blaming the “deindustrialisation of Europe” — and the impact that has had on the petrochemicals business — for decisions such as terminating Ineos’s sponsorship of the New Zealand rugby union team and abandoning the pursuit of sailing’s America’s Cup.
However, he insisted in an interview with The Times in March that he would not be severing his ties with the cycling team and was instead looking for new sponsorship.
It emerged in the cycling press that month that there had been talks with TotalEnergies, which sponsors a French professional road cycling team, and The Times can now report that a merger is nearing completion.
Ineos have declined to comment and it remains unclear how soon the merger will come into existence. It may not be until next year. But Ineos and TotalEnergies, which reported annual revenue of more than £200billion in 2022, have worked together in the past. Last year Ineos bought the French company’s petrochemical assets in southern France, having jointly owned them previously.
The Grenadiers are unlikely to pose too much of a threat to the leading teams this season. Tom Pidcock, the Olympic mountain bike champion, has left and the team were saddened this week by Caleb Ewan’s decision to retire, despite the 30-year-old Australian sprinter having shown some impressive early-season form. He had been quick to form a strong bond with Ineos staff but, against the backdrop of an acrimonious departure from Jayco-AlUla last year, said he had fallen out of love with the sport.
Bernal perhaps represents the team’s best chance in the grand tours but the 28-year-old Colombian has so far been unable to rediscover his 2019 form in the wake of a career-threatening training crash in January 2022.
The agreement will also enable Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos chairman, to make further savings across his sports portfolio as he focuses more of his attention on his co-ownership of Manchester United.
But the partnership between Ineos and TotalEnergies, another petrochemicals giant, is seen as an essential step in securing the investment required for the cycling team to become more competitive in a men’s peloton now being dominated by Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike, the team of Jonas Vingegaard.
Ratcliffe spends about £40million a year on the cycling team he bought from Sky in March 2019. He initially enjoyed seeing their dominance of the Tour de France continue when Egan Bernal claimed victory in Paris four months later. It was the team’s seventh Tour triumph in eight years, with Bernal their fourth rider to finish in the Yellow Jersey after the successes of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.
But the team have suffered a decline despite Ratcliffe’s financial backing, with 2024 having been their worst season to date.
Ratcliffe has made no secret of a desire to cut his spending in sport, blaming the “deindustrialisation of Europe” — and the impact that has had on the petrochemicals business — for decisions such as terminating Ineos’s sponsorship of the New Zealand rugby union team and abandoning the pursuit of sailing’s America’s Cup.
However, he insisted in an interview with The Times in March that he would not be severing his ties with the cycling team and was instead looking for new sponsorship.
It emerged in the cycling press that month that there had been talks with TotalEnergies, which sponsors a French professional road cycling team, and The Times can now report that a merger is nearing completion.
Ineos have declined to comment and it remains unclear how soon the merger will come into existence. It may not be until next year. But Ineos and TotalEnergies, which reported annual revenue of more than £200billion in 2022, have worked together in the past. Last year Ineos bought the French company’s petrochemical assets in southern France, having jointly owned them previously.
The Grenadiers are unlikely to pose too much of a threat to the leading teams this season. Tom Pidcock, the Olympic mountain bike champion, has left and the team were saddened this week by Caleb Ewan’s decision to retire, despite the 30-year-old Australian sprinter having shown some impressive early-season form. He had been quick to form a strong bond with Ineos staff but, against the backdrop of an acrimonious departure from Jayco-AlUla last year, said he had fallen out of love with the sport.
Bernal perhaps represents the team’s best chance in the grand tours but the 28-year-old Colombian has so far been unable to rediscover his 2019 form in the wake of a career-threatening training crash in January 2022.
- Apr 30, 2011
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Ineos Grenadiers close to new sponsor deal to restore their fortunes
Multimillion-pound deal with TotalEnergies will allow Jim Ratcliffe to focus on Manchester United while providing funds needed for road cyclists to be more competitive
www.thetimes.com
- Sep 26, 2020
- 25,342
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and yet Sky were mocked back then
en.brujulabike.com
Each Alpecin cyclist will sleep on their own mattress and pillow at each stage of the Giro
Alpecin-Deceuninck takes marginal gains one step further by moving each of its cyclists' own mattress from hotel to hotel.
en.brujulabike.com
- May 5, 2010
- 51,687
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and yet Sky were mocked back then
Each Alpecin cyclist will sleep on their own mattress and pillow at each stage of the Giro
Alpecin-Deceuninck takes marginal gains one step further by moving each of its cyclists' own mattress from hotel to hotel.
Yeah, several teams have been doing that for years...
I'm guessing what you're referring to is the whole "Porte in an autocamper" situation.
- Oct 1, 2014
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I'd be surprised if that happens. Mr Ineos has just 6 billion pounds & is only worth 17 billion now. To me & you that is quite a lot of money, to a billionaire, its a pittance.
- Oct 21, 2012
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Watson another rider who has really improved at Ineos this year. First time they've ridden Dunkirk (?) and looks like another victory. They've changed their calendar this year to include some French Cup races. Makes me wonder how far in advance they knew the merger with Total was coming?
- Oct 1, 2014
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They might do some decent transfer business this year. At least he won't be hiring a sprint coach for a sprinter who only did a few races for them.
- Mar 22, 2024
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- Oct 21, 2012
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No doubt that since his health issues/departure, Ineos declined, but his approach to cycling remained within a coaching team with reduced resources, exacerbating the failure.
This year, with a new management structure, they've made the best of a limited squad and been more exciting to follow. Not sure if Braislford returning is good or bad news for the team?
This year, with a new management structure, they've made the best of a limited squad and been more exciting to follow. Not sure if Braislford returning is good or bad news for the team?
- Mar 22, 2024
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Good news for the team, bad news for the sport.
Any further on my part would require moving to a different sub-forum.
Armchair Cyclist
Moderator
- Mar 22, 2010
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Some people accuse riders of picking their races to try to avoid main rivals and rack up easier wins: I can't imagine that happening.
- Apr 13, 2021
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View: https://x.com/INEOSGrenadiers/status/1938267175241851329?t=0HNaxk4-5VweHhqZLp8nAA&s=19
New sponsor. Langelotti grand tour GC project for 2026????
New sponsor. Langelotti grand tour GC project for 2026????
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