INEOS Grenadiers will test Tobias Foss as their leader at UAE Tour
Cycling
INEOS Grenadiers will be defending streak of two second places overall at this year's UAE Tour. But it won't be an easy task because both of their former leaders - Adam Yates and Luke Plapp - are back in United Arab Emirates, ready to take on their former employer in their new kits.
Carrying the British team's GC hopes will be the former ITT World Champion and team's new acquisition for 2024 - Tobias Foss. The 26-year-old was expected to leave a mark as classification contender following his dominant victory at 2019 Tour de l'Avenir, however after 9th place at 2021 Giro d'Italia, the Norwegian found himself struggling to fight in the mountains. Hopefully he can resurrect his climbing legs in new outfit, making the debut at UAE Tour.
Read also
Experienced Brandon Rivera and Óscar Rodríguez will be INEOS' back-up leaders for overall classification, but without a strong timetrial up their sleeves, even a top 10 result would be a pleasant surprise.
Elia Viviani will try to play his card in bunch sprints, but without any real support from his team, it won't be an easy task for the Italian sprinter who already finished twice in Australia this year.
INEOS Grenadiers lineup for UAE Tour:
Andrew August, Tobias Foss, Michael Leonard, Brandon Rivera, Óscar Rodríguez, Ben Swift and Elia Viviani
Read also
Foss is a good rider and has shown glimpses of what he is capable off. The 2022 ITT worlds win being the stand out pro performance. Surprisingly he couldn't win his own countries national ITT that year. Is Ineos the right team for him to blossum? I can see why he left Jumbo V but is Ineos going to be any better for him?
Foss does not appear to be a good signing based on the past performances. Lets see what he does in this season
Just in
NEW: WorldTour Manager Cyclinguptodate.com (FREE)
Best newcomer cyclists in 2025
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- I don't see that as attacking his team leader. Jorgenson was only ahead of Jonas by a few seconds. Jonas was covering Martinez's attack earlier before launching his own. Jorgenson would have lost today's stage regardless because he didn't have the legs to answer Almeida. It was a great team work because the worse co-leader went on an attack, so the rival team had to chase down while the leader Jorgenson could sit on Almeida's wheel, saved energy and mark him. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out because Almeida was the strongest. It looks like textbook strategy and it's different from the scenario in La Vuelta 23.
KerisVroom13-03-2025 - This trend of neutralizing parts of races or even cancelling them, is increasingly worrying for the sport. Over time, they will want to cancel for weather that is less and less 'severe'. It is an outdoor sport on roads. It will ruin the sport if it continues.SuperConfexYokoOno13-03-2025
- Ok, thanks for clearing that up.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- He complained his team didn’t do their work expected for him in the first stage, this time he pulled the whole peleton back practically solo for Skjelmose to show how it’s done.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- 👍💪👍😊VgnRider13-03-2025
- Jonas shouldn't have been attacking the GC leader from his team ! Selfish !frieders313-03-2025
- Why do you keep attacking your GC leader from your team? Vuelta all deja vu ! You are pretty selfish Jonas ! Kuss can attest to that ! Now Matteo can as well.frieders313-03-2025
- Really Jonas! Maybe stay home with your kids next time the weather gets tough! And maybe not attack your GC leading teammate as you also did in Vuelta with Kuss !frieders313-03-2025
- He beat Jonas twice this year, which is strange. Jonas doesn't appear to be as dominant as he was early last year before the crash. But the climb today wasn't long and hard enough for Jonas.KerisVroom13-03-2025
- I guess it all depends on who all peaks when during their build-up into the season, so I doubt if it's safe to say that Almeida is really better than Jonas.Ride197413-03-2025