After Tour Down Under disappointment, INEOS Grenadiers confirm '7' for Surf Coast Classic in search of first 2025 win

INEOS Grenadiers are a team that has changed a lot over the past year, and amongst those changes were the loss of more leaders such as Tom Pidcock and Ethan Hayter; as well as several important staff members. The team was even described by Hayter to be 'run like a business', and 2025 is an opportunity to change this in the British structure. The team confirms it's lineup for the Surf Coast Classic where they are aiming to win for the first time this year.

At the Tour Down Under the team had several cards such as Michal Kwiatkowski, Lucas Hamilton, Geraint Thomas and Magnus Sheffield to play but only the latter managed to fight for the overall classification - finishing seventh, 27 seconds behind race leader Jhonatan Narváez. Whilst for the American it's a solid result, overall the team has not had the best of weeks.

Later on this weekend it will race the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race where the hilly finale may be well suited for the amount of cards it has, but the former World Tour-dominator does not currently have a sprinting option who can safely bring a result if the attacks do not come to fruition.

At the Surf Coast Classic a bunch sprint is expected, and so either Samuel Watson or Ben Swift will be protected and guided into the final kilometers after bringing in Top10 results at the Tour Down Under. However the start of the race, which features a 10-kilometer long climb, could very well be a chance for these riders to go on the attack and try to make it hard for the fast men. INEOS come in with the same lineup featuring the four riders mentioned above, as well as Connor Swift to complete the '7'.

INEOS Grenadiers for Surf Coast Classic:

Lucas Hamilton
Michal Kwiatkowski
Magnus Sheffield
Ben Swift
Connor Swift
Geraint Thomas
Samuel Watson