Brailsford is back, Thomas too
Brailsford managed Team Sky since its formation in 2010, and oversaw what had been an unprecedented period of success: seven Tour de France victories between 2012 and 2019 by Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal. In December 2021, Brailsford became Director of Sport at INEOS, overseeing a large number of teams sponsored by the group while remaining team principal of the cycling team, but at a distance. The team’s lack of success over the past several years has moved its CEO, John Allert, and others in the group to bring back Sir David (he was knighted in 2012 for services to cycling and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games) to help return it to its glory days.
Under his renewed management, INEOS has made a number of other significant staff changes in an effort to close the wide gap to UAE Team Emirates–XRG and Visma–Lease a Bike. The most popular one was to hire 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas as Director of Racing. “Geraint typifies what it means to be a Grenadier. He has lived and breathed elite performance throughout his career. He always set himself very ambitious goals and invariably went on to achieve them,” Brailsford said at the time.
Speaking in late November on the Watts Occurring podcast, which Thomas hosts alongside former pro Luke Rowe, Thomas confirmed, as reported by Cyclingnews, that the team’s major goal was to win the Tour again. “I’m not sure on the time scale, or rather I can’t say. But that’s what made us successful, and meant we could continue at a high level and got a really good sponsor after Sky. So everything leads towards that.”
As for the seemingly insoluble problem of beating Tadej Pogačar, Thomas said, “Pog’s not going to be around forever. In two or three years’ time we want to be in a super-strong position where we can challenge for it, Pog or not.”
A new generation
Of course, you can have the most brilliant and experienced managers and sports directors, but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have the riders. Though INEOS showed improvement in 2025, with 28 victories, including six Grand Tour stage wins, their roster did not have a rider capable of challenging for a Grand Tour victory, though the courageous Thyman Arensman won two difficult Tour mountain stages. So it was fascinating to watch the team’s moves under its new-old management in the transfer market.
The most interesting signing so far has been the impressive 24-year-old French rider Kévin Vauquelin, who won a Tour stage in 2024, finished a hard-fought seventh in the 2025 Tour GC and became available when his former team, Arkéa–B&B Hotels, failed to find a new sponsor for 2026 and folded. Vauquelin is a talented rider with a huge upside simply because the infrastructure and leadership at INEOS are distinctly superior to what he had been offered with Arkéa.
I doubt he will be capable of winning the Tour de France when (if he’s not racing against Pogačar) he’ll be facing the “Baby Pogi,” Isaac del Toro, as well as former INEOS rider Tom Pidcock, who is flourishing at Q36.5 Racing, and Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe). He strikes me more as an eventual Classics rider and Grand Tour stage winner who will be a huge asset to the team.
For the moment, Vauquelin feels very comfortable with Thomas. “Maybe he recognizes something of himself in me when he was younger, because we’re both good time trialists, and I made my Tour de France debut in a similar way,” Vauquelin said. “And we can agree on our way of thinking and working. It will certainly be a great asset to have such an experienced rider with a great track record and his own unique approach.”
He is also optimistic about his ability to win a Grand Tour, even the Tour de France, in the future. “I had to decide what I preferred: going all out to win stages or being very focused for three weeks. For now, I feel like I’m on the right track and I’m aiming for the general classification. Anyway, every rider dreams of winning the Tour de France, so I have to keep going.”
But just in case, INEOS wants to keep its options open and is apparently negotiating with the exciting young British rider Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL). The often in-the-know commentator Daniel Benson reported Tuesday on his Substack that rider and team are only “24 to 48 hours” from signing. The 23-year-old Onley finished fourth in this year’s Tour, also has a great deal of potential and seems to be a better climber than Vauquelin at this stage. As of this writing, 48 hours later, there has been no announcement by the team.
As a sign that the new team strategy is looking beyond a near-term Tour victory, INEOS Grenadiers announced Thursday that it has launched a development team for 2026, the INEOS Grenadiers Racing Academy, which will be riding at UCI Continental level. It currently has a squad of 10 riders, including the 22-year-old Josh Charlton, the reigning European and world champion in the individual pursuit in track racing.
