Right in the centre of the life of a professional cyclist. Geraint Thomas and his guests regularly provide these insights in his own podcast "The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club". It's about everything that's going on in cycling at the moment, occasionally also about Thomas' employer, Team Ineos Grenadiers. So in November, the Welshman also commented on the departure of his team boss Rod Ellingworth. "It was really upsetting that Rod resigned," Thomas said, among other things. The two have known each other for over 20 years. According to Thomas, the move came as a "surprise" to him.
In the surprisingly brief official team statement, it remained unclear who was responsible for the separation. Initial media reports stated that Ellingworth had left voluntarily, while other media reported that he had been immersed in planning for 2024 until the very end. What Thomas' statements make clear, however, is that even the travelling staff appear to be mere spectators in the team's development at the moment.
Ineos Grenadiers reorganises its sporting management
Ineos has recently replaced a number of nameplates at management level. In addition to Ellingworth, sporting director Roger Hammond, performance director Ben Williams and sporting director Matteo Tosatto are leaving the team for the new season. In previous years, long-serving head coach Tim Kerrison and sporting directors Servais Knaven, Gabriel Rasch and Brett Lancaster have already left the team. Since last week, John Allert has been the new CEO, Steve Cummings has been promoted to Director of Racing and Scott Drawer is the new Performance Director. Their tasks: to mould a former team back into a future top team.
At first glance, the figures from 2023 are still favourable. Ineos achieved 36 victories, with the Giro d'Italia Geraint Thomas was only 14 seconds short of a Grand Tour victory. But if you don't let that blind you, you'll realise that the only significant success on the World Tour - apart from stage wins at the Tour and the Vuelta - was achieved by Ineos Thomas Pidcock at the Strade Bianche. The British team did not win a single World Tour stage race - this has only happened in its debut year 2010.
Meanwhile, the first Ineos rider, Filippo Ganna, is ranked 15th in the UCI rider rankings for the 2023 season. A rather mediocre result. This picture continues from previous years and is remarkable from two points of view: Firstly, because with a budget of allegedly 50 million euros, Ineos has over the most money in cycling and, secondly, because until a few years ago it was still regarded as the benchmark of the sport.
Seven victories at the Tour de France
Because until 2019, Ineos was Team Sky, which got the hang of it after a short start-up period and dominated the sport for almost a decade. They won the Tour de France seven times between 2012 and 2019. Sky also established new ways of thinking in terms of training, nutrition and race preparation - summarised under the catchphrase "marginal gains", embodied by the cool, optimisation-driven attitude of team boss David Brailsford. The team polarised, but also generated mistrust. However, even top riders from other teams were willing to help Sky just to ride for the team - and earn good money on the side. So where did the British team lose touch?
Ineos won the last of its twelve Grand Tour victories to date in 2021 with Egan Bernal at the Giro d'Italia. In the same year, Ellingworth took over the day-to-day running of the team. Although Brailsford still wears the hat at the racing team, he is now responsible for all the sporting activities of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos empire. Ellingworth was previously a coach and performance manager at Sky from 2010 and led the Bahrain-McLaren team for a year in 2020 before Brailsford brought him back in a leading position. In the meantime, other teams have adapted Sky's way of working and taken it further - while Ineos has stagnated for two years. The sobering thing from the team's point of view is that the Sky model still works, but is now being used more successfully than ever at Jumbo-Visma.
Has David Brailsford got more involved again?
That with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard The fact that the two current exceptional riders are unfortunately stabled in other teams is as little Ellingworth's fault as it is for Bernal's life-threatening crash at the start of 2022. The Colombian, Ineos' great hope for Grand Tour success at the time, has still not fully recovered. The team was also devastated by the loss of Nicolas Portal, who died of a heart attack in March 2020 at the age of 40. He was considered a gifted sports director and played a key role in Chris Froome's four Tour de France victories.
What does fall within Ellingworth's area of responsibility as team boss, however, is poor squad planning - and this is where the management disagreements begin. In the summer, there were reports that Brailsford was once again interfering more in team procedures. This is said to have led to planned transfers apparently being cancelled again or, as in the case of Norwegian Tobias Foss, being put on ice for the time being. Ellingworth has always had to be the bearer of bad news. So far, Ineos has only announced three new signings for the coming season, one of whom is Foss.
Plan with junior staff only works to a limited extent
This balance is all the more striking when you look at the departures: Last year, Dylan van Baarle, Adam Yates, Eddie Dunbar and former Grand Tour winner Richard Carapaz left the team, while Pavel Sivakov, Daniel Martinez and Tao Geoghegan Hart, 2020 winner of the Giro d'Italia, are no longer part of the team for the new season. No adequate replacements were brought in.
Publicly, the team always endeavours to say that it is in the process of rebuilding. In line with this, Ineos has recently primarily signed young talents, which may well be a team strategy, but is irritating as a transfer focus given Ineos' options. It's a bit like Bayern Munich selling numerous key players and only bringing in youth players in return. Andrew August, Leo Hayter, Magnus Sheffield, Joshua Tarling or Ben Turner have great potential, but are bets on the future. Which also counteracts the approach: Some of these young hopefuls are already moving to other teams in 2024, such as Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) or the Brit Ben Tulett (Jumbo-Visma). The currently most promising British talents Thomas Gloag (Jumbo-Visma) and Max Poole (DSM) also missed out.
Thomas Pidcock: Face of the future
All of this has diluted the focus of the squad. All strength for the Tour de France: in the Sky years, this was always the company's mission statement, to which everything was subordinated. The squad now serves every segment a little, whether classics, sprints or tours, but is nowhere world class - with the exception of Filippo Ganna in the time trial. There is a lack of a leading figure like Bradley Wiggins or Chris Froome, at least according to Thomas: "Of course you need a leader to win. And if you have a strong leader, everyone else can keep up with you." Meaning: A strong leader raises the level of the entire team. Ineos does not have this effect at the moment.
Thomas Pidcock is seen as the face of the future. The Brit is a man for the classics, possibly even for the Grand Tours. However, he is also still a rough diamond that occasionally sparkles, but still needs a lot of polishing - especially as he continues to pursue ambitions in the cross and mountain bike sector, especially in 2024 with the Olympic Games. The 22-year-old Carlos Rodriguez is perhaps the most promising cyclist in the squad, finishing fifth in the 2023 Tour. Nevertheless, he lacks the imagination to seriously compete with Pogacar or Vingegaard in the coming years.
Significantly, the best results in recent years have come from Geraint Thomas: second place at the Giro this year, third place at the Tour last year. However, the successes of a 37-year-old can only be a welcome bonus for Ineos, not the central focus.
Ineos turned down Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic
The team management has at least recognised the lack of a leading figure. For several years now, they have been courting the services of Remco Evenepoelalso Primoz Roglic are said to have been attracted. These would have been transfers that would have immediately put Ineos on an even keel. The only problem was that they were turned down every time - one of the fundamental problems of recent years: Ineos has remained strangely unsuccessful on the transfer market.
It is one of the most striking differences to the Sky years: Back then, the team was attracting rows and rows of top riders from other teams, cementing its years of superiority. Now, the competition regularly makes bold moves even at Ineos. The new super teams are Jumbo-Visma and Team UAE. The reasons can only be surmised. Is Ineos too late in the contract negotiations? Are the sporting arguments simply no longer convincing? Or is there a problem with the internal processes and competences? The team does not currently present a confident picture.
The new management therefore not only needs sporting results, but also a new approach and success on the transfer market in the long term. The current squad is good, but is no longer top class - especially with a view to major events such as the Tour de France. Team owner Jim Ratcliffe will also be focussing on these races in the short to medium term with his multi-million euro commitment. Meanwhile, it is questionable whether Brailsford will play a bigger role again. According to reports from England, he is to be given a key position at Manchester United football club, the new prestige project for Ratcliffe if he becomes a shareholder there.
What are the prospects for Ineos Grenadiers?
However, the failings of recent years may stand in the team's way for even longer. Signing Pogacar and Vingegaard seems utopian, and even in the drawer below, classics riders such as Juan Ayuso (UAE, contract until 2028), Joao Almeida (UAE, contract until 2026) or the up-and-coming Cian Uijtdebroeks (possible transfer to Jumbo-Visma) are unlikely to be available. And other superstars such as Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck, contract until 2025) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma, contract until 2026) also appear to be stable with their teams.
All that remains for the team management is to hope that one of the talents will quickly reach unexpected heights - or to keep up the flirtation with Evenepoel. However, if Ineos continues to fall further behind in sporting terms, the Belgian may also consider whether the British team is still the right destination for him. After all, mediocrity currently seems closer for Ineos than a return to the top team.
