Netcompany INEOS DS promises to show a "different way of racing" throughout the 2026 Tour de France
CyclingFriday, 10 July 2026 at 06:00
The 2026 Tour de France has not been a great Grand Tour for Netocompany INEOS so far. Following the team's failure to triumph in the opening team time trial despite a co-favorite status, it's been a downward trajectory with Kevin Vauquelin's 6th place from stage 4 breakaway the closest the team had come to a stage triumph so far.
It's quite reflective of the British team's entire 2026 campaign so far - a year kicked off with refreshed ambition thanks to the recruitments of Oscar Onley or Kevin Vauquelin, but an immediate letdown with Brit's injury causing him to miss the race while his French teammate has been victim to minor illness and poor luck so far.
Former long-time road captain at Movistar Team, Imanol Erviti, sits behind the steering wheel of Netcompany INEOS during the on-going Tour. The experienced Spaniard certainly isn't satisfied with how the race has gone so far, yet he doesn't give up on a better outcome in the remainder of the race.
"What motivates you are the memories of the good days," Erviti opens at MARCA when asked whether he misses being in the saddle himself: "Those days you do feel envious or want to be back there, but I'm past that stage, I've enjoyed it, and I feel fortunate for that," he explains.
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It all started in Barcelona
Starting with a team of several world's top time trialists; former world champions Filippo Ganna, Tobias Foss, and european champion Joshua Tarling among others, the British team was aiming high in the streets of Barcelona, but luck wasn't on their side when team leader Kevin Vauquelin suffered a mechanical problem, eventually costing the team a stage victory and yellow jersey by just 8 seconds.
"We came very close in the team time trial, which is a discipline where it's not easy for everything to go perfectly," Erviti refers to Vauquelin's problem. "It wasn't easy for us either, just like for many other teams. We were close, but we couldn't quite pull it off."
Filippo Ganna missed out on yellow jersey by 8 seconds
A different Tour
Oscar Onley was intended as Netcompany INEOS leader for the Tour, but with his absence, the general classification is no longer a focus for the British formation. Instead, Erviti would like to utilize the individual strengths of his rider - in particular their great engines - to find success in selected stages.
"It's a Tour with a slightly different approach from the team, not so much focused on the overall and that, but perhaps aiming for stage wins and a different way of racing," he emphasizes.
But it's undeniable that general classification battles are encoded deep in the team's DNA. Will they ever return to that 'Froome era'?
"We're working on it, and this is the project. We have to keep working hard because it's very difficult," he replies.
Particularly exciting will be the arrival of now junior in his second year Benjamín Noval. The 18-year-old's numbers are already WorldTour-level, but it'll be the British formation's job to transform this raw talent into a full-fledged GC contender who can match Tadej Pogacar... or Paul Seixas in the future.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- I was trolling that croatian idiotantipodeanpedalfan10-07-2026
- Remco still doesn't understand team tactics. Lipo was more than 20 seconds ahead at the top. He needs to sit back behind the Lidl riders and the others and save his energy. If the other riders close the gap, he needs to put evertyhing in one lethal attack and time trial home alone. If the others don't catch up, Lipo, his teammate, gains on all but Seixas and del Toro. He can sit in the third group for most of the final ascent with an excuse and then attack them with a few kilometres to go and gain time on everyone but Lipo, del Toro and Seixas. A double win for Red Bull. Instead, he makes sure all of them arrive at the same time. What a selfish idiot. Lipo has beaten him every time over the past year when they met. What an arrogant idiot. Sorry to describe this so lengthily - this is not for the fans (they all get this). This is for Remco, the only one that doesn't get it.MaMu10-07-2026
- Pretty boring to watch??? You should be grateful you can watch the GOAT.MajorPayne10-07-2026
- yeah what is he upset about? he finished in front of Sepp.mij10-07-2026
- yeah really great point. Lipo crested the summit well ahead of Remcomij10-07-2026
- There are levels in sports and these levels are not fixed, sometimes someone is at level 5, sometimes 2, sometimes 8... but if you have an opponent, from outer space, who is at level 10 from February 2024 on, and you don't have a capacity to ever be at level 10, then what else do we have to talk about?? PS: Usually if you see Pogi all in white before the start, you can immediately place a good bet... for big € !!!mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales10-07-2026
- It's well known that antipodeanpedalfan is a Pogi hater so I have no words for him. Maybe Vingegaard will declare again in 2027 that he is back to his best level, just like before Hautacam 2025 and Tourmalet 2026. I'm really curious which legendary mountain ASO will design for 2027 where Jonas will be only 2 minutes behind. Yesterday Vingegaard learned what that legendary phrase means when someone "gets too close to the sun,"... they usually get burned.He thought that he is the☀️ but Giro knows how to trick a person's psyche. Vini,Vini, yesterday he learned the hard way.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales10-07-2026
- OMG! I can't even laugh anymore at the nonsense you write.MajorPayne10-07-2026
- It was not much different. UAE drove and dropeed their leaders and the Pogi got ~> 5 min gap on all their ridersabstractengineer10-07-2026
- Wishing Torsten a speedy recovery. Whatever else happens in his career, he will always remain a Yellow Jersey wearer.Cooldude10-07-2026
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