{"id":189641,"date":"2022-05-30T06:18:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T06:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=189641"},"modified":"2022-06-06T07:38:22","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T07:38:22","slug":"creating-the-first-british-winner-of-the-tour-de-france-within-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2022\/05\/30\/creating-the-first-british-winner-of-the-tour-de-france-within-five-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating the First British Winner of the Tour de France, Within Five Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Sir Dave Brailsford and Team Sky made this claim back in 2009, they were, fair to say, being ambitious. Setting such a lofty goal in a sport full of tradition was asking for trouble. But the then Team Sky boss was, to his credit, bang on the money. Just three years later, he had won the Tour de France with Bradley Wiggins, which was quickly followed up by four titles for fellow Brit Chris Froome in five years. <\/strong><\/p>\n


\nCycling in the 2010s belonged to Team Sky. They were the poster team for a sport making its mark on the mainstream for the first time since Lance Armstrong. Especially in the UK with events like Sky Ride, a closed-city mass event for everyone, their name was everywhere. And they could barely stop winning, with only mishaps like Chris Froome\u2019s crash at the 2014 Tour de France where he broke his hand getting in the way.<\/p>\n

These years were the zenith for a team that has risen \u2013 with the help of great financial backing \u2013 to the top in no time and looked destined to stay there. The landscape in the 2020s has changed for the team. Now backed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos Grenadiers are a shell of their former selves. They haven\u2019t won a grand tour since Tao Geohegan Hart\u2019s thrilling, yet surprising, Giro D\u2019Italia victory in 2020. They have also struggled to assert their dominance in week-long stages compared to their headier days a decade ago.<\/p>\n

So, what has changed for the outfit and can we expect them to return to their former glories? Is their billionaire owner getting the results he desires? More importantly, does it really matter if they are capable of unpredictability and, dare we say it, fun?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with what has changed. The core of the team, which used to be largely British, has shifted to a more cosmopolitan and international outlook. Gone are the days of Wiggins, Froome and Geraint Thomas leading the line. Now we have Bernal, Richard Carapaz and Filippo Ganna, just some of their star names. This is not to say the team doesn\u2019t focus on British riders. Tom Pidcock is perhaps one of the biggest names in all of cycling currently and Adam Yates has proven himself as one of the sport\u2019s top climbers, but names like Thomas and Luke Rowe\u2019s powers are on the wane. Even Geohegan Hart has struggled to match his Giro form from 18 months ago.<\/p>\n

This has left the team without a clear plan. 10 years ago, Project Yellow Jersey seemed almost inevitable with Brailsford at the helm but now, in 2022, their plans seem disjointed and already pretty forlorn. This is no small part down to the incredibly unfortunate crash suffered by Bernal<\/a> earlier this year. Thankfully, the Colombian climber is on the mend and his overall health should absolutely come first but it has left the team in limbo ahead of the Grand D\u00e9part in July.<\/p>\n

This frailty in grand tour racing \u2013 their bread and butter for so long \u2013 is only exacerbated when the likes of Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d<\/a> and Tadej Poga\u010dar are viewed next to the likes of Carapaz and Yates. Only once has either Ineos rider finished above the two Slovenians over three weeks \u2013 that was Carapaz when he won the Giro at Movistar in 2018 \u2013 and that is likely to stay the same in 2022.<\/p>\n

But cycling is not all about the three grand tours. There are plenty of other ways to win races and gain glory. The ever-present Achilles\u2019 heel of Ineos Grenadiers, since their inception in 2010, has been one-day races and monuments. Heading into this year\u2019s classics season, only Wout Poels and Michal Kwiatkowski have won a monument for the team \u2013 the last one back in 2017 \u2013 a pitiful return for a team with their economic clout.<\/p>\n

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#Giro<\/a> 2022 \u2705#LeTour<\/a> 2021 \u2705#LaVuelta<\/a> 2020 \u2705@RichardCarapazM<\/a> continues his consistent Grand Tour podium record for the Grenadiers \ud83d\udc4f\ud83d\udc4f\ud83d\udc4f pic.twitter.com\/6Qeca8w0fw<\/a><\/p>\n

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) May 29, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n