Netcompany-Ineos did not have a bad season. The British team won 37 times, the most since 2023, on 20 more occasions than their annus horribilis of 2024, and finished eighth in the team rankings. It’s not world-beating form, and there was no Grand Tour win or even podium, but it’s not too far from their average performance in terms of wins since their founding.
It was a solid year, then, with standout moments, even if the Tour de France was a disappointment. Alongside this, their future appears secure, with new title sponsor Netcompany joining from April. So why, then, do things feel a bit off at the British WorldTour team? As has become custom, it is yet another winter of change at Ineos, with at least nine riders joining and at least 10 leaving. Some of those are explainable, like Ben Swift and Bob Jungels retiring, but others feel like huge losses.
The one that stands out is Filippo Ganna, who has been with the team since 2019, taking all 41 of his pro victories in that time. What's more, the Italian is leaving before the end of his contract to join Lidl-Trek. Riders only tend todo that if they're offered more money or are unhappy where they are. Others good riders, including Ben Turner, Laurens De Plus, and Magnus Sheffield, are also moving on.
In their stead, a group of solid, hard-working professionals has been signed, from Michael Valgren to James Shaw, Joe Blackmore and Harold Tejada. Good riders, but not necessarily a giant upgrade on what they already had. It is the joint-record amount of transfer business any iteration of Netcompany-Ineos has ever completed since being established in 2011, and gives the sense of a team in churn, unsettled, not quite knowing what it is.
This is not the first year of transition at the British team; in the last five years, Sir Dave Brailsford has left and rejoined, with the management structure and staffing shifting at the same time, with Rod Ellingworth and John Allert both joining and leaving. Geraint Thomas is in charge of racing now, but there has also been a turnover in sporting directors and technical staff, with Dan Bigham, Steve Cummings and Zak Dempster just three of the key staff-members in the backroom who have left in recent years. Other teams have staff turnover, but seemingly not at the same rate.
More than ever, it feels like the team is having a bit of an identity crisis. There are now just four confirmed British riders at the British team, and a mix of other nationalities, including a notable Spanish block.
"There are always riders leaving and going," Oscar Onley, the team's big GC hope, told Cycling Weekly this week, in defence of his team's transfers. "I think it's normal, it's the way the sport is. I think the team are quite clear on what they want to achieve, they want to win Grand Tours again, and they're putting good plans in place to do everything they can to try and achieve that."
However, Ineos do seem better than most at losing talent. A handful of the riders that have left the team in the last five years include Tom Pidcock, Adam Yates, Richard Carapaz, Pavel Sivakov and Ben Tulett, before including this year's exodus. At the end of this year, their highest rider in the UCI rankings is Thymen Arensman, in 44th; their rivals each have a handful of riders above him.
The reason, as ever, is likely money, as other team's budgets have ballooned in recent years, especially UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and despite investment from Netcompany, the squad is no longer the richest in the world. There are also question marks around how the team is run.
While there isn't the same level of doom-and-gloom as at Manchester United, the football club also owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, there is the same sense of a fallen giant which once ruled the roost, and of a muddled strategy at management level. The cycling team won six Tours de France before being owned by Ratcliffe, and have only won one since. It has not been a dominant force for over seven years.
A brighter future is possible. Onley is still young, won the white jersey at the Vuelta a España this year, and is still developing; in 18-year-old Benjamín Noval, junior world road and time trial champion, they could have the next superstar. There are other elite riders at the team, and they have the potential to win just as many races in 2027 as this year.
However, they still don't have a rider the level of Tadej Pogačar or even of those chasing; Remco Evenepoel chose Red Bull over Ineos while Jonas Vingegaard won't be tempted from Visma Lease a Bike. Neither have they managed to sign 'the next big thing', like Isaac del Toro or Paul Seixas. The rumour is that Netcompany-Ineos are attempting to woo Seixas, the great French hope, but would he want to join a team in almost-constant flux? It isn't a winter of crisis, but it is one of revolution. Whether this leads to progress remains to be seen.