There is a famous sports team, recently taken over by a billionaire who made his money from petrochemicals, who in the last decade have gone from being one of the best in the world to being on track for their worst season ever. Behind the scenes, things seem to be difficult, with staff moving on and confusion over management. The team seems unable to secure top athletes. Those in charge speak of following the plan, of building back, and trusting the process, but this is slow.
That sports team? Manchester United football club. It could be Ineos Grenadiers, though. The former have had its worst start to a Premier League season, while the latter are set for their worst season ever.
Ineos are on 14 wins with just a handful of races to go; their previous low was 2020, the Covid-affected season, where they won 19 races. In a full season, they have always won at least 25 times. Last year wasn’t great, and they still won 38 races. Intrigue surrounds their management team - Dan Bigham and Jonny Wale have left the backroom staff, the position of director of racing, Steve Cummings is unknown - and they had their worst Tour de France ever.
This week brought two fresh angles on the Ineos soap opera, with the news that ProTeam Q36.5 is interested in signing Tom Pidcock from the British squad, via Daniel Friebe and Ciro Scognamiglio, and then on Monday, the confirmed news that Luke Rowe would be leaving the British squad after 13 seasons - the only team he ever rode for - to become a sports director at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.
The Pidcock news, while just a possibility, is fascinating. There was reporting earlier this summer that the Olympic mountain bike champion was being enticed by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and others, but this never materialised. We thought that the possibility of him moving was over, but the Q36.5 news has opened it up again.
The motives behind such a deal are interesting enough, what does it say about both parties? Ineos are supposed to be one of the best, so why would they let a star talent like Pidcock go? Q36.5 are a step down on the ladder, they’re currently a ProTeam, and thus reliant on invites to the world’s biggest races. Daniel Benson went into more detail on his Substack on the reasons why the move could happen. Even if the transfer doesn’t go ahead, the suggestion that Pidcock could still move, or that he or Ineos are interested in it happening, is hardly reassuring news for those wanting the team to return to their best.
Luke Rowe’s departure, meanwhile, feels more like a continuing end of an era for the British team. Rowe was road captain, a key part of the team’s success across the biggest races, and is now leaving. The links to the glory days of Team Sky seem to be fading, with Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift both heading into the final years of their contracts next year.
“Why the obsession with Ineos Grenadiers?” You could understandably ask. We don’t dedicate the same column inches to EF Education-EasyPost or Bahrain Victorious. It’s not just because they are the only British WorldTour squad, but because of what they used to be. Sky, then Ineos, were dominant, the best team in the world by miles, like Visma-Lease a Bike were last year, and now their stature has been severely diminished.
The issues that are all too obvious to many are still there: Ineos Grenadiers do not have Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Primož Roglič or Jonas Vingegaard. They still have one of the bigger budgets, but not the biggest. Cycling is constantly improving, and Ineos have slipped behind the likes of UAE Team Emirates, Visma and Red Bull in the UCI rankings. It’s difficult for an underperforming team to turn things around, especially under the hot glare of fans, the media, everyone, but nor is any of this impossible to surmount.
Just like Manchester United, Ineos Grenadiers’ previous glory days are behind them, but the team is still there, chasing the former highs. We are told to trust the process, allow the plan to build, but sport is a results business. It is still unclear where the wins will come from, especially soon. This is the worst season, but when will it get better?
This piece is part of The Leadout, the offering of newsletters from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.
If you want to get in touch with Adam, email adam.becket@futurenet.com.
