INEOS Grenadiers are now on the backfoot at the Grand Tours and have to fight back. 2023 was a mixed season, but saw a few interesting developments such as Filippo Ganna's change into a classics rider and sprinter, and Joshua Tarling's breakthrough.
UCI ranking 2023: 17.794 (4th)
Victories (World Tour): 35 (9)
Top riders in UCI rankings: Filippo Ganna (15th)
Rúben Silva (CyclingUpToDate): 7.5. The Vuelta a Espana was completely past INEOS, but the team did plan the other Grand Tours well. The focus on the Giro GC was the smart choice and Geraint Thomas was very close to getting that big win. At the Tour De France Carlos Rodríguez rode a fifth place and won a great mountain stage. The team performed well in the classics outside of the cobbles. Tom Pidcock delivered, Filippo Ganna and Tao Geoghegan Hart both found their best level and the team saw the huge breakthrough of new European time-trial champion Joshua Tarling - who confirms the team still has a big hand when it comes to signing big talents against Jumbo-Visma and UAE Team Emirates. Daniel Martínez and Egan Bernal didn't perform at a very high level which hampered their year-round stage-race results, Luke Plapp also looked to be lacking form completely throughout most of the season.
Kieran Wood (CyclingUpToDate): 7. A decent showing from the INEOS Grenadiers, you could argue this was just 14 seconds away from being a very good season. Had Geraint Thomas not relinquished the Maglia Rosa on the penultimate stage of the Giro d’Italia, a Grand Tour win to add to Grand Tour stage wins from Filippo Ganna, Michal Kwiatkowski and Carlos Rodriguez would have been very impressive. Alas, that wasn’t the case but nevertheless, 36 wins is a very respectable total.
Ondřej Zhasil (CyclingUpToDate): 6. We all knew it was going to be a tough year for Ineos, knowing their season, as one of the top GC teams, would be nearly over after the Giro d'Italia. 'And it turned out to be a year of second places' as the only big wins came from Pidcock at Strade Bianche, and (surprisingly) from young Josh Tarling at the European ITT Championships.
Juan Larra (CiclismoAlDia): 5. 36 victories and fourth in the UCI ranking. That would be enough for almost any team to be proud of the year, but INEOS Grenadiers is the team with the highest budget in the WorldTour and to finish another year without winning any Grand Tours or Monuments is nothing to be proud of. Geraint Thomas came close to winning the Giro d'Italia and Carlos Rodriguez completed a great Tour by winning a stage and finishing fifth. Tom Pidcock completed a great classics campaign by finishing second in Liège and winning Strade Bianche. Poor balance for a team from which much more is expected than a couple of stages in the Tour, a close call in the Giro and a good Spring season.
Jorge Borreguero (CiclismoAlDia): 6. INEOS is one of the big teams in the peloton, and although it has achieved good victories in 2023, such as Tom Pidcock's victory in the Strade Bianche, Carlos Rodriguez's in the epic 14th stage of the Tour de France (and 5th overall), or Geraint Thomas' second place in the Giro d'Italia, which he lost in the penultimate stage to Primoz Roglic, it has to aspire to much more and reach the level of its main rivals, Jumbo and UAE.
Victor Gonzalez (CiclismoAlDia): 7. Despite having lost level compared to previous years, INEOS Grenadiers has again achieved great results this season with Geraint Thomas in the Giro d'Italia, Thomas Pidcock with his exhibition in the Strade Bianche and his 2nd place in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Filippo Ganna (2nd in Milan-San Remo), the European Championship time trial of the revelation Joshua Tarling and some more good results.
Filipe Pereira (CiclismoAtual): 7. INEOS Grenadiers managed to rack up some wins, despite being far from the GT threat they once were. The team was very close to win the Giro with Geraint Thomas and maybe if Tao Hart hadn't crashed, then the latter seemed to have that 2020 shape to take his second Maglia Rosa. Other than that, Carlos Rodriguez did well for himself at the Tour but he couldn't keep up with the main two riders. Also, Filippo Ganna and Joshua Tarling were amazing, with the first of the two, proving that he could also go for the sprint and that he really is the best rider in the team. INEOS didn't have a bad season, having riders who could go for the win in any race, but being as far as they are from their former dominant selves really gives off the idea of a team that has fallen from grace.
Carlos Silva (CiclismoAtual): 6.5.
Ivan Silva (CiclismoAtual): 7. One of only 3 teams that can say they have finished in a Grand Tour podium this season. Finished also on top 5 at Tour de France and with 2 other men on Top 10 at Giro D'Italia aswell as 2 monument podiums and the win in Strade Bianche. Also worth noticing that 4 out of their 8 stage wins in WT came via ITT (and curiously their riders won 5 national TT titles during this season aswell).
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