Ineos Grenadiers rider Josh Tarling has said his team is “not broken” and "will be class" with a few changes, in light of recent criticism around the squad’s performance.
The British WorldTour team recorded its least successful season ever in 2024, in terms of victories, collecting 14 wins. This is down from 38 in 2023, and 50 at its peak under the Team Sky moniker in 2012.
Speaking at Rouleur Live on Saturday, where he was questioned about his team's shortcomings, Tarling maintained an optimistic tone, saying it's in a “rough patch”, but the riders are looking forward to next season.
“I think it’s not broken. It’s a team, isn’t it? It’s not like an object,” the 20-year-old said. “I re-signed literally not long ago. I think to jump ship on a team when it’s maybe not where we want to be is like giving up, isn’t it?
“They’ve changed a load of stuff and there’s a load of new people coming in. Everyone’s trying, the mentality’s different, and the coaching’s different.”
Last month, Ineos announced an overhaul of their staff, including a new lead performance coach, head of engineering, and sports directors. The recently appointed staff are “highly motivated, hungry and ambitious”, said performance director Scott Drawer, and “want to create an environment that allows our riders to fulfil their potential.”
There were also notable exits from the team, with performance engineer Dan Bigham joining Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and director of racing Steve Cummings announcing his departure.
Tarling is now at the end of his second season with Ineos Grenadiers, and is contracted until the end of 2027. This year, he contributed two victories to the squad’s tally, winning the opening stage of O Gran Camiño and retaining his British national time trial title in the team’s colours.
“I joined the team with all these winners. In my head, it’s never gone down,” he said. “These races are so hard to win. You get luck and you get bad luck. We’re in a rough patch, but we’ve got all the tools, all the equipment and all the riders… With a few changes, it’ll be class.
“We can only go up. There’s been a lot of bad media. It would be nice to be part of turning it around. Some people can do one,” he added, drawing a laugh from the audience.
Recent reports have focused on Tom Pidcock’s relationship with the team, which has been turbulent over the past year. The 25-year-old was also at Rouleur Live last week, where, asked if he had greater clarity over his future at Ineos, he replied “no”.
“I’m never gonna lie,” Pidcock said. “It’s true, we’ve had a difficult year, I’ve had a difficult year. It’s not what we wanted but I do see a lot of positive changes and, of course, everyone accepts that it’s difficult – it’s the first thing you have to do if you want to change it. We’re seeing those changes happening. I do hope that it can be turned around.”
Tarling, who also spoke about his Olympic debut and time trial beginnings, said there was “not a lot of pressure” on him and his teammates to perform next season.
“No one’s pressured to get better, because everybody wants to get better and get back to winning,” the 20-year-old said. “Everyone’s looking forward, but not too far forward… Everyone’s looking at next year. First race, let’s win it.”
