INEOS set to totally disappear from the peloton? British WorldTour team confirm “we’re going back to market” after Netcompany investment

One of the most recognisable names in modern cycling could be set to disappear from the peloton altogether after senior figures within the newly rebranded Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team confirmed they are already searching for another major title sponsor.

The British WorldTour squad only debuted their new green and grey colours at the Giro d’Italia this week following the arrival of Danish software and AI company Netcompany, but the latest comments from the team suggest the rebrand may not be the final stage of the project’s transformation.

Speaking to the Leaders Worth Knowing podcast, the team’s Chief Commercial Officer Tom Hill revealed that the squad is already looking for an additional co-title partner beyond Netcompany. “We have Netcompany as our first name-co title partner, but we're going back to market looking for a second co-title partner,” Hill explained.

That immediately raises the prospect of the INEOS name eventually disappearing entirely from the team title despite owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe remaining involved behind the scenes. When discussing the possibility of a future naming structure, Hill referenced the idea of “Netcompany-X”, with the “X” representing another incoming sponsor. For cycling fans, it would mark another major identity shift for one of the sport’s defining teams of the modern era.

The squad first entered the WorldTour in 2010 as Team Sky, built around the ambition of delivering a British Tour de France winner. Within two years, Bradley Wiggins achieved exactly that before Chris Froome turned the team into cycling’s dominant Grand Tour force.

Between 2012 and 2019, the organisation won seven Tours de France through Wiggins, Froome, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal. Marginal gains, control riding and overwhelming financial strength became synonymous with the Sky project during one of the most successful periods any team has enjoyed in the modern sport. The transition to Team INEOS came in 2019 following the end of Sky’s sponsorship agreement, before the team became INEOS Grenadiers a year later.

Now, however, another evolution appears to be underway. While Hill stressed that Ratcliffe’s company remains committed to the project long term, the comments also reflected the growing financial arms race at the top of men’s cycling.

“Ineos will absolutely remain involved as a long-term backer, with a massive interest in cycling. That has never waned,” Hill said. “Sir Jim has a very passionate interest in cycling and has been a very fantastic supporter and backer.”

The wider backdrop is a rapidly changing WorldTour landscape. Over recent seasons, UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Team Visma | Lease a Bike have become the sport’s dominant Grand Tour teams around Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard respectively, while the likes of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, Lidl-Trek and Decathlon CMA CGM Team have also significantly increased investment.

INEOS, by contrast, have spent recent years trying to rediscover the dominance they once enjoyed during the Team Sky era.

The team have still collected major wins through riders such as Filippo Ganna, Carlos Rodriguez and Egan Bernal, but they have not won a Grand Tour since Bernal’s Giro d’Italia triumph in 2021.

Hill openly linked additional sponsorship to the team’s long-term sporting ambitions. “Ultimately, if we can broaden the financial base by having other partners in to help put investment into the team, create that virtuous circle of more investment, better riders, win more races, more sponsors. That is the next step for us, as of now.”

For a team once defined by stability and complete control at the top of the sport, the next chapter may now depend on how successfully it can reinvent both its identity and its financial model in cycling’s rapidly escalating superteam era.