“The best off-season INEOS have had in a long time” – Bob Roll & Van Garderen see plenty of positives in early days of the Geraint Thomas era

INEOS Grenadiers have spent several winters talking about “transition”. This one feels different.

On NBC Sports Cycling’s Beyond the Podium Podcast, Bob Roll described the team’s recent months in unusually direct terms. Looking at their new signings and internal changes, he said it could be “the best off-season INEOS have had in a long time”.

Tejay van Garderen agreed, arguing that the team has “thrust themselves back into the conversation” with a mix of young talent, management changes and a clearer sense of direction.

That outside assessment lands at a moment when INEOS are also undergoing their biggest internal shift in years. Geraint Thomas has stepped off the bike and into the role of Director of Racing, tasked with rebuilding a winning culture and dragging the team back towards the standards that defined their 2010s dominance.

Discussing the transfer market and team moves, Roll pointed first to INEOS. “Another really interesting transfer is Oscar Onley going to INEOS,” he said. “Do you think this is going to be the catalyst to get INEOS back into that Grand Tour conversation, with Kevin Vauquelin as well? Because that could be, honestly, the best off-season INEOS have had in a long time.”

Van Garderen shared that view. “I really think they just thrust themselves back into the conversation with Oscar Onley and Kevin Vauquelin,” he said. “Onley is so young. He was right there in the white jersey conversation with Florian Lipowitz last year. He just had a phenomenal season, so he’s only going to get better.”

For van Garderen, the changes were not about one headline signing, but about a broader sense that INEOS are no longer drifting.

Roll then turned to the bigger question of what success should look like for a team that once defined the sport. “I’ve been a little disappointed and critical of INEOS’ results based on their budget,” he said, before noting that Thomas is now part of management. “It seems like Geraint has already made some very clever moves.”

Van Garderen expanded on why Thomas’ presence could matter. “Imagine Geraint Thomas sitting in the living room of some young kid coming out of the under-23s or the juniors, sipping the mum’s coffee, eating their pies, saying ‘we’re interested in your boy’,” he said. “Do you think that kid or those parents are going to say no?”

He believes Thomas’ reputation and relationships will help bring talent through the door. “I’m envisioning some serious talent coming to INEOS because of the role Geraint Thomas just took over,” he said.

When Roll asked how INEOS should be judged next season, van Garderen set clear benchmarks. “I’d like to see, at minimum, a podium at the Tour, and I think your best bet is Oscar Onley,” he said. “They’ve got Bernal, a former Tour winner. He’s coming back into decent form, not at his old level, but he’s solid support. They’ve got Kevin Vauquelin. I’d like to see a Tour podium, a Monument win, and maybe an outside shot at one of the other Grand Tours. That’s the standard we should hold INEOS to.”

Roll was more cautious. “I honestly don’t see a guy winning a Grand Tour on the INEOS roster right now,” he said.

“That’s fair,” van Garderen replied. “Oscar Onley is the man for the Tour, but it would be tough for someone that young to back it up at the Vuelta or do the Giro. Carlos Rodriguez, I’ve been a little underwhelmed. After that Tour where he won a stage and finished around third or fourth, I expected him to kick on more.”

While Roll and van Garderen were reacting from the outside, the tone of their discussion closely matches what Thomas himself has said since taking up his new role.

The 2018 Tour de France winner has made clear that his job is not about slow, vague rebuilding. He has spoken openly about wanting to bring back the competitive edge that once defined Team Sky and early INEOS, with a clear target pinned to the wall: winning the Tour again.

Thomas has rejected the idea that INEOS can hide behind the word “transition”. “Transition’s over now, mate,” he has said of the team’s recent years. “This is where we’re going. This is what we’re doing. There’s no more ‘we’re in transition’ – that becomes an excuse for not performing.”

He has also talked about recreating the internal competition that once existed between riders like himself and Chris Froome, and about applying the same pressure and performance standards to staff as well as riders.

For Thomas, the current dominance of Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates - XRG is not a reason to lower ambition, but the benchmark INEOS must work towards. “Right now UAE are the top team,” he has said. “But for me, this is the start now. We’re heading there. That’s the goal and this is how we’re going to do it.”

What Roll and van Garderen are reacting to is not a finished product, but the first visible signs of that shift.

New signings like Onley and Vauquelin give the team fresh options. Thomas’ move into management gives those changes a clear face and voice. And, perhaps most importantly, the messaging coming out of INEOS has changed from explaining decline to demanding progress.

That is why Roll’s line landed so sharply. Calling it “the best off-season INEOS have had in a long time” is not about crowning them champions again. It is about recognising momentum after years of drift.

Whether that momentum turns into results will only be answered on the road. But for the first time in several seasons, the conversation around INEOS is no longer about what they have lost.

It is about what they might finally be building again.