The old boss has returned from his stint trying to revive Manchester United but faces another huge challenge pulling Ineos Grenadiers out of the doldrums
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It has been only a month since Dave Brailsford was jettisoned from his role as Manchester United auditor, having ruffled plenty of feathers in the corridors of Old Trafford and Carrington in his bid to revive a great sporting institution. Now the former cycling supremo is back in the saddle just in time for the Tour de France as Ineos Grenadiers seek their own renaissance.
“He’s like a kid in a sweet shop, talking about climbs and getting back to the mountains,” revealed team CEO John Allert. “That’s the battlefield that he knows and loves. We have welcomed him back into the team with open arms. He’s a not-so-secret weapon for us to use and we plan on using him to the fullest extent we can.”
Brailsford spearheaded British Cycling’s Olympic success in Beijing and London before taking charge of Team Sky and masterminding their domination of the Tour during the 20-teens, winning the race with Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome four times, Geraint Thomas and then Egan Bernal under the Ineos rebrand, although the glorious era was tainted by accusations the team “crossed an ethical line”.
His arrival at Old Trafford was not universally appreciated, and he clashed with staff at the club during his efforts to improve processes behind the scenes.
Now Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has redeployed Brailsford to his beleaguered cycling team, who are without a grand tour win in four years and have little hope of claiming the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, which begins in Lille on Saturday.
Carlos Rodriguez will lead the team at this year’s Touropen image in gallery
Carlos Rodriguez will lead the team at this year’s Tour (Daniel Cole/AP)
The long-term task to regenerate the team as regular Tour de France podium-botherers is enormous after losing so much ground to the modern alphas of the peloton, Visma Lease-a-Bike and UAE Team Emirates.
“It’s obvious we want to win the Tour, but there’s no point just saying you want to win it,” said Allert. “We've got to do more than we're doing, clearly, to get better than the people that are dominating it at the moment.”
But in the short term, winning a couple of stages at this year’s race would at least show that Ineos can compete and come out on top, if not over three weeks then in selected moments.
“Winning stages is going to be really important,” added sport director Zak Dempster. “I think we need to be realistic in GC [general classification], but I think we need to be brave and bold and move the race where we can, and hopefully take time in creative ways. It’s no secret that, face to face, there are guys who are stronger than us, that’s the reality. But at the same time if we’re smart then nothing’s out of the question in terms of GC.”
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Thomas is riding in his final Tour and will largely play a support role behind team leader Carlos Rodriguez, who finished fifth two years ago, although the 39-year-old Welshman would love one last stage win to go with the three on his palmares from 2017 and 2018, the year he won the yellow jersey.
“I’d love to be competitive and go for a stage, a stage win would be amazing,” Thomas said. “You’ve got to be in super great condition for that. And then obviously being alongside Carlos deep into the mountains and helping him as much as I can, off the bike as much as on it. He knows what he’s doing anyway, but I think just playing a role in the team of just trying to share my wisdom – sounds a bit... but you know what I mean.”
Thomas abandoned last month’s Tour de Suisse after twisting his knee in a crash, but played down concerns over his fitness before the race.
Geraint Thomas conquered the Tour de France in 2018open image in gallery
Geraint Thomas conquered the Tour de France in 2018 (AP)
“I got my foot caught and twisted, and I also hurt my hamstring and calf. The idea was to rest up properly and be ready to go again rather than continue to race and possibly make it worse or tweak something else. I got some good training in afterwards behind the motorbike, I’ve done the best I could.
“It was frustrating because it would have been nice to see exactly where I was at compared to everyone else rather than just training. But no issues now.”
Ineos’s best chance of a stage win may come in the first of two individual time trials on this year’s course, through Italian time-trial specialist Filippo Ganna, who has seven stage wins at the Giro d’Italia and one at the Vuelta a Espana, but still needs a victory at the Tour de France to complete the grand-tour set.
“Maybe the first days we try to be more conservative, try to go all-in for the TT, and then after that’s the start 100 per cent of my Tour,” Ganna saiI would like to try [and win a stage]. Why not this year?”
Ineos Grenadiers at 2025 Tour de France
Thymen Arensman, Tobias Foss, Filippo Ganna, Axel Laurance, Carlos Rodriguez, Connor Swift, Geraint Thomas, Samuel Watson.