Ineos Grenadiers have admitted they are now the "hunter rather than the hunted" in the men’s WorldTour peloton and Grand Tours as they try to rebuild and relaunch in 2024 after changes in senior management and rider roster.
The British WorldTour still has a group of talented young riders and retained Geraint Thomas but lost a number of other big-name riders. An alleged attempt to sign Remco Evenepoel fell through after he promised loyalty to Soudal-QuickStep.
Dave Brailsford has formally stepped back from a management role in the team and Rod Ellingworth left abruptly during the winter, with John Allert promoted to CEO. Scott Drawer is the team's new performance director and Steve Cummings is the new director of racing.
Allert refuted recent suggestions by Johan Bruyneel that Ineos Grenadiers budget has been cut by €10 million after a review of rider salaries. He was upbeat about the long-term future of the team, with sponsorship ambitions to try to win the Tour de France confirmed for the years to come.
"It's fair to say that as a team, where we're now the hunter, not the hunted, and that puts a slightly different complexion on things for us," Allert said during a video call with British and international media, including Cyclingnews.
"We've clearly transitioned from one leadership to new leadership. I think we've got an exciting rider group and clearly we've made a good start to the season. I feel a lot of optimism in the team and I actually feel a lot of optimism in the sport."
"I think there's a lot said about our budget, we have what we believe to be a budget that will enable us to win Grand Tour races. Whether or not that's the largest budget in the sport.
"We've certainly had no dilution of our budget, no decrease in our budget. And I think our budget is everything we need it to be. There is no question of the Ineos commitment to cycling, there is no time horizon put on that commitment"
Allert surely knows that winning the Tour de France or perhaps even any Grand Tour in 2024 will be difficult.
Thomas is now 37, Egan Bernal has still to return to his best after his terrible crash in training and Tom Pidcock has still to prove his Grand Tour talents at the Tour de France.
Ineos Grenadiers are still considered one of the sport's super teams but have been left behind by Visma-Lease A Bike and UAE Team Emirates, with Lidl-Trek and Bora-Hansgrohe stepping up a level for 2024.
"I think everybody can see that at the moment there are some pretty outstanding GC riders. I believe that we have a number of outstanding GC riders too – both experienced, proven GC riders. We have two winners in the team. We also have a phenomenal next generation of riders," Allert argued.
"Our objectives are to get as close to the top of the podium in the Tour and any Grand Tour or in any race for that matter. Whether or not that's this year or next year remains to be seen. We know the competition is stiff.
"I think sometimes people mistakenly think that we've had a diffusion of focus. But that’s always been the DNA of the team. That continued from our previous owners into the Ineos ownership and the ambition is the same.
"With that comes an identity that I think certainly to those inside the team is crystal clear. And that is why we're a GC team, first and foremost and want to be on the top step of the podium. That's it."
'We're going to leave no stone unturned in terms of trying to innovate our competition'
Allert dismissed the reports of Ineos Grenadiers trying to sign Remco Evenepoel as a 'soap opera' and refused to confirm or deny the team's interest in the Belgian.
"I don't talk specifically about the recruitment of any rider. That particular rider is a listed rider with another team. He has a contract," he said
Dave Brailsford is now busy trying to turn around the fortunes of the Manchester United football team after Ineos' billion-pound investment in the Premier League club.
He was recently removed from the team's website as team manager but remains head of Ineos Sport and so oversees the company's involvement in a range of different sports. He may no longer attend races but Allert insisted he is still close to the team.
"Dave's Dave, he's the Godfather of this team," Allert said, not explaining if that was a description of his family role in the team or that of a mafia boss.
"He's the founder of the team. It's actually a privilege that we still have him accessible to the team. His role is as director of Ineos Sport. He clearly has responsibility across a variety of different sports performance of all of them, not just cycling.
"Dave has probably a greater bandwidth than anybody I've ever worked with. He has a passion for and a proven track record in cycling. Don't be surprised to see Dave come on race. But he won't be coming on race to mark our homework. He'll be he'll be coming on race to support the team as he does all the [Ineos] teams."
Ineos Grenadiers have lost or let go Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates), Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The only new signings for 2024 are teenagers AJ August and Theodor Storm plus Oscar Rodríguez and Tobias Foss, but Ineos Grenadiers did manage to retain Carlos Rodríguez despite him being linked to Movistar.
Filippo Ganna also remains, while young talents like Josh Tarling, Ben Turner and Thymen Arensman have improved significantly.
"I think all of the riders who left our team, whether those offers were financially attractive or were opportunities that they felt they wanted or needed, we wish them well," Allert said diplomatically.
"Rider turnover happens every year and some of those riders were riders that brought the team great success and we thank them for that and hope they succeed wherever they go."
He added that the British squad now has to find ways to overtake teams such as Visma-Lease A Bike, who have come to dominate the Grand Tours in a way Ineos Grenadiers used to do.
"Our mission is clearly more than to catch up to those teams that have succeeded over the last couple of years, it's to find ways of overtaking them," he said.
"They've found ways of not just echoing what we did but innovating themselves. That's how they've got themselves to the position they're in. That's part of the joy of elite sport, that each generation finds ways to out-perform and out-innovate the one that precedes it.
"I think it's no coincidence that the person responsible for our sporting performance – new head of performance Scott Drawer – is a scientist. He's an innovator, he's a proven disrupter. He embraces technology, data and science.
"I don't think that alone will provide us with the answer but certainly, we're going to leave no stone unturned in terms of trying to innovate our competition."
