Exodus at the INEOS Grenadiers! Ethan Hayter, Jhonatan Narvaez, Thymen Arensman all set to leave with Tom Pidcock set for crunch talks

Although the INEOS Grenadiers have long had one of the biggest budgets in the sport of cycling, a host of star riders look set to leave at the end of the season, further continuing their scaling back of the team in recent years.

According to a report by Escape Collective, a number of top riders, including newly crowned British National Champion, Ethan Hayter, the only man other than Tadej Pogacar to wear the Maglia Rosa at the 2024 Giro d'Italia Jhonatan Narvaez and Thymen Arensman, who himself secured himself a 6th overall finish at the opening Grand Tour of the season, are all set to depart.

Although a new home for Hayter isn't known as of yet, BORA - hansgrohe have reportedly won the race for Narvaez. Arensman meanwhile, whose father was very publicly critical of the INEOS Grenadiers set up during the recent Giro d'Italia, has decided a change is indeed needed and decided to search for pastures new ahead of the upcoming campaign. Further than just the aforementioned trio however, European time-trial champion Joshua Tarling and arguably INEOS Grenadiers' biggest name rider, Tom Pidcock are both at risk of joining the mass exodus at the British-based outfit.

Tarling, who recently added the British time-trial championship title to his growing palmares, will ultimately stay at the INEOS Grenadiers for this season according to the reports, whilst for Pidcock crunch talks over his future and his contract look set to decide things in the coming weeks and months, although it is worth noting the multi discipline Brit star has a contract currently that lasts until 2027. When pressed for a response on the situation, INEOS declined to comment “especially on media speculation on contracts of riders and staff.”

If true, this continues a worrying development for the INEOS Grenadiers that last year saw the likes of Ben Tulett (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla), Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) and Daniel Martínez (BORA - hansgrohe), all also decide their best career move was to leave.