"I’m not going to add to that soap opera" - INEOS Grenadiers CEO insists his team remain big budgeted but won't be drawn on continued Remco Evenepoel speculation

For a long time, the INEOS Grenadiers have been widely regarded as having the biggest budget in the whole of the World Tour peloton. If that's still the case, CEO John Allert isn't sure but he insists they more than have the budget to compete. 

“We have a budget, and it’s a fixed budget. It’s not gone down in any way,” Allert explained recently in conversation with GCN and other outlets via a media call. “I think there’s a lot said of our budget but I believe that we have one that will allow us to win Grand Tour races. Whether it’s the largest budget in the sport, I’m no longer clear on that. I don’t have transparency on what other teams’ budgets are but we’ve certainly not had any dilution or increase in our budget. Our budget is everything we need it to be.”

“We’ve adopted a structure that we think is going to give us the best opportunity to execute against a clear strategy that’s to focus on GC races. That’s been our heritage," Allert continues, referring the multiple Grand Tours won by the team over the years through the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal and Tao Geoghegan Hart.

"We’ve got a structure in the team that is as clear as it’s ever been. I think that it’s no coincidence that the person responsible for our sporting performance [ed. Scott Drawer] is a scientist, an innovator, and a proven disruptor. He embraces data and technology, and I don’t think that alone will provide the answers, but we won’t leave a stone unturned in terms of trying to out-innovate our competition."

Over the recent off-season, there was plenty of speculation that INEOS would dip into the market for a new GC leader and they look to return to Grand Tour winning ways. The likes of Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic were linked but it's Remco Evenepoel who's name continues to be pushed by the media as a future INEOS Grenadiers rider.

“I think 2023 was in danger of becoming a bit of a rider soap opera and I think a lot was written about not very much fact. I’m not going to add to that soap opera," Allert says, refusing to drawn on such rumours. "I think that finished at the end of the year and we’re now into a new season with a new narrative. That’s what we’re focussed on."