Ineos Grenadiers, the cycling team owned by petrochemicals billionaire and Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, is reportedly set for a name change and new kit under a new sponsorship deal.
The Times reported on Wednesday that Danish IT firm Netcompany will become the team’s new title sponsor in a five-year agreement worth £100m.
The outlet said that Ratcliffe will remain the team’s primary owner and senior management staff, including Ineos head of sport Dave Brailsford and former Tour de France winner and current race director Geraint Thomas, will remain in their roles.
The Netcompany deal is expected to be formally unveiled before this year’s Tour, which begins on July 4.
Copenhagen-based Netcompany has recently been named Heathrow Airport’s main digital operations partner and also works with HMRC.
Its investment is hoped to go some way to making Ineos competitive again at the grand tours.
The outfit has not won the Tour de France since 2019 but previously won seven titles in eight years, mostly in its former guise as Team Sky, and last won one of cycling’s premier three-week races at the Giro d’Italia in 2021.
Ineos have struggled in recent seasons to attract the calibre of rider talent and the funding required to compete with the likes of super-team UAE Team Emirates-XRG and the sport’s dominant rider, Tadej Pogacar.
Ratcliffe has invested £30m per year but needs further cash injections to close the gap to the £51m annual budget of Pogacar’s team.
Netcompany’s investment will boost the team’s coffers while Ineos will remain a sponsor, as will French oil and gas multinational Total Energies, who are currently its official jersey sponsors.
Ineos Grenadiers are bidding for a return to their glory days and have duly invested in top talent over the most recent transfer window, signing a Tour de France stage winner in Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin.
Their marquee signing of the winter was Britain’s promising general classification hopeful Oscar Onley in a deal reportedly worth around £5m per year.
The Scot enjoyed a breakout season in 2025, finishing fourth in the Tour de France.
The team have enjoyed something of an uptick in form over the start of this season, winning the team time trial in the Paris-Nice stage race this week, although both Onley and Vauquelin lost time on a difficult mountainous stage on Wednesday while Jonas Vingegaard - Pogacar’s only real Grand Tour rival over the last five years - won the stage and took the overall lead.
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