According to expert, Ratcliffe is tired of his "toy" INEOS Grenadiers: "No major investments have been made"

There’s currently a lot going on with INEOS Grenadiers. The team that once dominated cycling is gradually declining. Top performances are few and far between, and there is discontent behind the scenes, which has already led to the departure of personnel. Additionally, INEOS is currently on a collision course with Tom Pidcock, who is essentially the current face of the team. According to analyst Johan Bruyneel, all the turmoil marks the beginning of the end, as he explained on the podcast The Move.

Let’s go back to the evening of Friday, October 11, when the sudden news broke that Pidcock would not be making his debut in the Tour of Lombardy, with no reason given. Things got stranger when Pidcock reacted sharply on Instagram shortly afterward, stating that he was in excellent form. The situation grew even stranger when team management casually stated that they didn’t know the reason for excluding Pidcock from the lineup for the autumn monument.

Understandably, the entire situation has caused quite an uproar in the cycling world. The topic has already come up in multiple podcasts, and even Pidcock’s teammate, Geraint Thomas, has openly discussed it. Former team director Bruyneel also shared his thoughts. "To me, it’s clear that Pidcock and INEOS are at the end of the road. I don’t see how they’re going to resolve this. I think INEOS wants to cut costs and get rid of Pidcock’s expensive contract."

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Bruyneel: "That set off alarm bells for me"

Bruyneel estimated in an earlier podcast that Pidcock’s contract is worth four million pounds per year (a little over five million dollars). "I don’t know the reason for his deselection, but it’s coming from higher up, from management. There are apparently seven people in management, and not many of them know anything about cycling. I know of one, and I think even he knows little about cycling, and he’s supposed to know the most..." Bruyneel criticizes the team’s management.

Bruyneel isn’t referring to Dave Brailsford, who led the team to great heights during the Team Sky years, winning multiple Tour titles. "He’s not part of that team. He’s the head of INEOS Sport Performance, the whole project, and I think he’s mainly focusing on soccer now." Still, Bruyneel finds this a bit strange. "I find it odd that he’s now so detached from the cycling team that he brought to the absolute top. During the Team Sky years, they performed exceptionally well, and that was because of him."

"We’ve talked before about not understanding who the team is recruiting, only to see surprising names leave," Bruyneel continues. "What set off the first alarm bells for me, was when they sidelined their head coach, Steve Cummings, before the Tour de France. He had to stay home, and the team released a ridiculous statement that he would manage things from home. It makes no sense."

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Bruyneel: "You also see it in the riders they’re recruiting"

There was also the departure of Dan Bingham. The track specialist worked as an aerodynamics expert for the team. "The man behind Filippo Ganna’s world hour record, and he even broke the record himself before that. He and his assistant are moving to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Strange things are happening there. Something tells me that Ratcliffe (Jim, CEO of INEOS, ed.) is no longer as interested in the cycling team. And if he is, then the people advising him are not, and they want to get rid of the team. To me, it looks like a gradual phasing out of the team," Bruyneel concludes quite boldly. "Even though some riders have contracts through 2027, I see this as a way to exit before 2027."

"Ratcliffe is tired of his toy. You also see it in the riders they’re recruiting – they haven’t signed any major riders, and Pidcock is their big talent," says Bruyneel. "They’ve mainly recruited young talents and haven’t signed any expensive contracts. No major investments have been made. I see it as the beginning of the end for Team INEOS. They’ll certainly still be around next year. But I have my doubts about 2026, and I’m certain they won’t be here in 2027," Bruyneel concludes firmly. IDLProCycling.com already wrote an article on the decline of INEOS Grenadiers in recent seasons.