Ineos Grenadiers continued to put their worst year on record behind them at Paris-Nice last week with a display of aggressive racing which team management said showcased the "fighting spirit" and resilience within the riders.
The team have been in good form this year, and the momentum continued at the Race to the Sun.
Ineos were on the attack through the race, getting Tobias Foss and Josh Tarling up the road and in the fight for stage wins. The end result was victory in the overall team classification, third overall through Thymen Arensman, and a final day stage win in Nice from Magnus Sheffield.
Speaking on the Promenade des Anglais, Ineos sports director Oli Cookson said that the team's current crop of talented "young and hungry" riders would ensure that they could continue their fine form in the months ahead.
"All of the team are in solid, solid shape and were hungry for this," he said. "I think all the guys really deserve it. The whole peloton has suffered all week in the weather and our guys have been warriors. I think with Magnus, it was a really great performance. He lives nearby and knows the roads, but we had a plan this week and knew that one would compliment the other."
The fine form this year started with Egan Bernal’s victories in both the road race and time trial at the Colombian national championships. Michał Kwiatkowski then took the team’s first pro win in 226 days at the Clásica Jaén in Spain.
"I think it's just one guy wins, and then it just goes from there," Sheffield said on Sunday evening as he assessed the team's current momentum. "You can talk about the culture too, and we have a motto in the team - all in. I think today, especially, was a true testament to that, we were all in for each other."
"I think it's been clear we've all got a little bit extra in us this year," Josh Tarling added. "I think there was a lot of talking last year about changing the mentality, but this year, there has been a lot more actual doing. I think you can feel it. Everybody's really motivated and there's the belief it'll work as well, which is the really nice part of that."
The team's management setup has undergone a significant overhaul in the last couple of years, with some of the fallout played out in public.
During last year’s Tour de France, the new setup was scrutinised and was likened to a "coalition government" by Geraint Thomas. Dan Bigham also left the team, hinting at issues between him and the team's performance director, Scott Drawer, and a lack of autonomy in his role on departure.
Tarling said that he felt the difficult dynamic was now in the past. "I just think we have really changed the coaching styles around," he said. "The training camps, they were sort of harder to survive [in the past], rather than being like a get together, if you get me. So it has been a really good, a really good change."
"I'm not sure there wasn't clarity before," Cookson added. "But I would say that we have a clear idea and we've worked a lot and talked a lot with the riders and the performance group about how we're going to race this year and our approach to it.
"I think the riders are also really enjoying racing, and if you can enjoy any job you do, it's really key. They're going out with a buzz and a fighting spirit and believe that they can define a race and engineer scenarios that will allow our objectives to be fruitful. Everyone's been involved, the riders and staff, in talking about this and moving it forward."
