Ineos Grenadiers
Ineos Grenadiers is a British professional cycling team that competes at the UCI WorldTeam level. The team is based at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, England, with a logistics base in Deinze, Belgium. The team is managed by British Cycling's former performance director, Sir Dave Brailsford. The company Tour Racing Ltd. is the corporate entity behind the team in all its iterations, which in line with cycling practice adopts the name of their current primary sponsor.
The team launched in 2010 with the ambition of winning the Tour de France with a British rider within five years, a goal achieved in two years when Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de France, becoming the first British winner in its history, while teammate and fellow Briton Chris Froome finished as the runner up and then went on to win the 2013 Tour de France. Froome won Sky's third Tour de France title in 2015, fourth in 2016 and fifth in 2017. Froome went on to win the 2017 Vuelta a España and the 2018 Giro d'Italia, making him the champion of all three Grand Tours at once.
Froome was retrospectively awarded victory in the 2011 Vuelta a España, after the original victor Juan José Cobo was stripped of his title due to doping. The team won the 2018 Tour de France with Geraint Thomas, the 2019 Tour de France and 2021 Giro d'Italia with Egan Bernal, and the 2020 Giro d'Italia with Tao Geoghegan Hart, meaning that the team won seven of the eight editions of the Tour de France between 2012 and 2019, with four different riders, and five further grand tours between 2011 and 2021.
Following the decision by British media company Sky UK not to renew sponsorship, the team secured financial support from the British chemicals group Ineos, with the team thereby renamed as Team Ineos from April 2019. Effective from August 2020 the team was rebranded as Ineos Grenadiers to reflect Ineos Automotive's proposed new off-road vehicle, the Ineos Grenadier.
History
Formation
The creation of the team was announced on 26 February 2009, with the major sponsorship provided by BSkyB. The company was searching for a sport in which they could have a positive and wide-ranging impact through their sponsorship. British Cycling first began their relationship with BSkyB in 2008 with a £1 million a year sponsorship for their track cycling team. After a trip to the Manchester Velodrome, British Cycling's National Cycling Centre, in 2008, then BSkyB chairman James Murdoch quickly became keen on the sport. Over the summer of 2008 BSkyB were lobbied by British Cycling and key figures such as David Brailsford and Chris Boardman to launch a British road cycling team which would compete in road cycling's major events. BSkyB agreed to finance the team with €15 million a year, aiming for a British rider to win the Tour de France within five years. Initially a supermarket was in talks to become a co-sponsor.Team Sky's original intention was to build a 25-man squad with a core of British riders and to nurture the young talent. The first six riders confirmed were Geraint Thomas, Steve Cummings, Chris Froome, Russell Downing, Ian Stannard and Peter Kennaugh, all British riders. The ambition to "ensure competitiveness" through other signings, including a number of foreign riders, was expressed. On 10 September 2009, a further ten riders were confirmed as set to ride for the team. These were Edvald Boasson Hagen, Thomas Löfkvist, Kurt Asle Arvesen, Simon Gerrans, Juan Antonio Flecha, Kjell Carlström, John-Lee Augustyn, Greg Henderson, Lars Petter Nordhaug, and Morris Possoni. Further additions to the squad, including Chris Sutton and Bradley Wiggins from Garmin–Slipstream, Michael Barry, and Ben Swift from were made before the beginning of the 2010 season. Prior to their first season six jerseys were screen tested to ensure visibility whilst filmed in race conditions.
2010: The beginning
The team gained a victory in its first race in January 2010, the Cancer Council Helpline Classic in Adelaide, Australia, a one-day race prior to the Tour Down Under, with Greg Henderson and Chris Sutton taking first and second respectively. Team Sky's first ProTour event was the Tour Down Under in January. The team was awarded a wild-card entry for the Tour de France. Team Sky was also invited to compete in the other two of the year's Grand Tours. In February 2010 the team got its first one-day victory when Juan Antonio Flecha won the Belgian semi-classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with a solo break.On 9 May Wiggins became the first Sky rider to wear the leader's jersey of a Grand Tour when he won the opening prologue of the Giro d'Italia. That same month Ben Swift became the first rider to win an overall classification winning the Tour de Picardie. In the Team's first Tour de France, Geraint Thomas finished second on the cobblestones of stage three, and wore the white jersey as leader of the young rider classification. The Tour was a disappointment for Sky though, with Thomas Löfkvist in 17th overall being their highest placed rider. Löfkvist led Team Sky at the Vuelta a España, but the team withdrew after stage seven following the death of soigneur Txema González. In total Team Sky recorded 22 wins in their debut season, with a further 50 podiums.
2011: Grand Tour breakthrough
Team Sky again began the season in Australia, with Ben Swift winning two stages of the Tour Down Under, and finishing third overall. Juan Antonio Flecha and Jeremy Hunt finished fourth and sixth respectively in the Tour of Qatar in February, while Boasson Hagen finished first in the points classification and second overall in the Tour of Oman later that month. In the Classics season, Wiggins finished third overall in Paris–Nice and Geraint Thomas finished second overall at the Dwars door Vlaanderen. The team enjoyed a successful Tour of California, with Ben Swift winning stage two and Greg Henderson taking victory in stage three.At the Giro d'Italia, Thomas Lofkvist was the highest placed Sky rider, finishing 21st overall. The closest the team came to a stage victory was Davide Appollonio's second place on stage 12. Geraint Thomas secured Sky's first overall victory of the season, by winning the five-day Bayern-Rundfahrt race at the end of May. Boasson Hagen and Wiggins also won stages in the event, with Boasson Hagen claiming the points jersey. In June, Wiggins won the Critérium du Dauphiné, an important victory for Sky at the time.
At the Tour de France Sky finished third on stage two, the team time trial. Boasson Hagen secured the team's first ever Tour stage win on stage six. On stage seven, just over from the finish, a crash brought down team leader Wiggins breaking his collarbone and ending his tour. This prompted a change of approach from Sky, with their riders targeting stage wins. On stage nine, Juan Antonio Flecha was hit by a French media car, which resulted in Flecha colliding with rider Johnny Hoogerland, who crashed into a barbed-wire fence.
Both riders were able to continue despite sustaining injuries in the incident. Geraint Thomas won the combativity award on stage 12. Boasson Hagen came second to compatriot Thor Hushovd on stage 16, before winning the next stage with a solo breakaway. He also finished second on the stage 21 on the Champs-Élysées. Rigoberto Urán was the highest placed Sky rider with 24th overall, whilst Boasson Hagen's efforts gave the team two stage wins in an eventful Tour.
After the Tour de France, Boasson Hagen's good form continued, as he won the Vattenfall Cyclassics and took a clean sweep of jerseys at the Eneco Tour. In the third and final Grand Tour of the 2011 season, the Vuelta a España, Sky riders Froome and Wiggins finished second and third respectively in the general classification. Chris Sutton won stage two, while Froome won stage 17 of the event. On 11 October, it was announced that world champion Mark Cavendish would be joining the team for the 2012 season, bringing an end to months of speculation. He was joined by his teammate Bernhard Eisel.
On 17 July 2019, the UCI awarded Froome the Vuelta title after then winner Juan José Cobo was disqualified for abnormalities related to performance-enhancing drugs on his biological passport. This now recognizes Froome as the first British cyclist to win any of the Grand Tours, and the result also elevated Wiggins to second place.
2012: Tour de France victory
In January, Team Sky confirmed their squad for the 2012 season which included eight new signings, Cavendish, Eisel, Sergio Henao, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Salvatore Puccio, Luke Rowe and Kanstantsin Sivtsov.At the Tour Down Under in January, Boasson Hagen won the sprint classification. In February Sky claimed the team classification at the Volta ao Algarve, with Porte winning the overall and Boasson Hagen the points classification. Wiggins won the overall classifications in the Paris–Nice in March and the Tour de Romandie in April.
Sky dominated the Tour de France general classification with Wiggins first and Froome second overall, and Cavendish winning three stages including the sprint on the final stage on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. On 9 September, the team achieved their 100th victory with Lars Petter Nordhaug's win in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. The team also topped the UCI World Tour teams classification, with a total score of 1767 points.
In preparation for the 2013 season, the signings of Vasil Kiryienka and David López García from and 2012 Italian national time trial champion, Dario Cataldo from were secured. The team also signed Gabriel Rasch, and on 1 October it was revealed that the team had also signed Joe Dombrowski and Ian Boswell from the Bontrager-Livestrong team as neo-pros. The year's Tour of Britain winner, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke had signed a two-year deal with the team.
At the end of the 2012 season, Cavendish moved to, Lars Petter Nordhaug moved to, Davide Appollonio moved to, Juan Antonio Flecha moved to, Alex Dowsett moved to, and Michael Rogers moved to. Michael Barry and Jeremy Hunt both retired.
Doctor Geert Leinders, who had been employed by the Team since 2011, was subject of an internal investigation after allegations of involvement in doping at earlier in his career, and on 9 October it was announced he would no longer work for the team. The impact of the USADA reasoned decision on doping by Lance Armstrong and teammates at the US Postal team led Sky to re-inforce its zero tolerance anti-doping policy, with all riders and staff being subjected to internal interviews. Two members of the coaching staff, Bobby Julich and Steven de Jongh were released from their contracts under the policy. Head Director Sportif Sean Yates also left the squad in October citing personal reasons, although the Telegraph linked his departure to past involvement in doping.