Dave Brailsford has formally given up his title of team principal of Ineos Grenadiers, according to a report published by the Telegraph on Saturday.
Brailsford is set to be appointed to the board of Manchester United in the coming weeks once Ineos owner Jim Ratcliffe’s purchase of a 29% stake in the football club receives formal regulatory approval.
Ratcliffe reached an agreement to purchase a minority stake in Manchester United last month, with Ineos Sport set to take charge of sporting decisions at the club. Brailsford is currently leading an audit into the club’s operations.
According to the Telegraph, Brailsford announced his departure as team principal to Ineos Grenadiers riders and staff at their training camp in Mallorca.
He had already been working at a remove from the team’s daily operations since he was appointed Ineos’ director of sport in December 2021, and he is now no longer listed as team principal on the Ineos Grenadiers website.
Cyclingnews understands that Brailsford will retain his supervisory involvement with the cycling team through his ongoing role as Ineos’ director of sport.
Brailsford was team principal of Team Sky, as it was then known, on its foundation in 2010, and the squad would go on to win seven Tours de France in eight years between 2012 and 2019, though the period of success was also tainted by controversy.
In 2018, a British parliamentary select committee accused Team Sky of “crossing an ethical line” with their use of therapeutic use exemptions, while in 2021 the team’s former doctor Richard Freeman was struck off the medial register and banned by UK Anti-Doping after having a banned testosterone gel delivered to the National Cycling Centre in 2011.
Brailsford denied wrongdoing and resisted repeated calls for his resignation, although he had gradually distanced himself from the day-to-day running of the team in the period since Ineos took over as title sponsor in the spring of 2019.
At the end of 2021, Brailsford was appointed Ineos’ director of sport, a role that saw him oversee the company's operations across a range of sports, including significant involvement at French football club OGC Nice.
Despite that new role, Brailsford retained the title of team principal at Ineos Grenadiers for the past two seasons, while Rod Ellingworth oversaw the day-to-day operations of the team under the title of deputy team principal.
Ellingworth resigned from his role at Ineos in November, and the following month, the team announced changes to the management structure for 2024.
John Allert, previously managing director, was appointed CEO of Ineos Grenadiers, reporting to Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc at Ineos Sport, while Steve Cummings was named as the director of racing, and Scott Drawer was appointed performance director.
