"The team needs to be thoroughly overhauled" - Dutch pundits agree that INEOS needs to move on from their past if they aim to succeed in the future
Cycling
INEOS Grenadiers had been in a decline for a few years but it was never as painfully clear as at the end of this season that big changes need to be made to ensure the legacy of the British team dubbed 'The Empire' in the past will live on. Frankly, departures of key staff and talents such as Tom Pidcock don't seem to steps in the right direction.
"In 2017 they won the Tour de France and the Vuelta with Froome. In 2018 they came forward again with Froome and Thomas, with the win in the Giro and the Tour and no less than 43 victories. Then followed the Tour victory with Egan Bernal in 2019 and two years later the victory in the Giro," Sander Valentijn sums up in the Eurosport podcast Kop Over Kop.
So far so good news, but from 2022 onwards things will go wrong. "There were still 39 victories then, including Paris-Roubaix, and in 2023 there were 38 victories. This season, however, they did not get further than 14 victories. It may be scoreboard journalism, but the question remains: what is INEOS' focus point?" Valentijn continues.
Jan Hermsen believes that success is hard to maintain, especially with such a dominant team. "When you are that good, success makes you a bit lazy," Hermsen thinks. "We have seen with other teams, such as Visma | Lease a Bike, that the focus slowly fades. You automatically work a little less, and INEOS can keep that up for a while, but eventually you have to sweep it clean."
According to Hermsen, the team is living in the past missing the chances to build for the future. "Just say goodbye to Thomas, Froome, Bernal and other big names who are paid a lot. It is a very tough cutback, and that is not popular."
Bobbie Traksel agrees with Hermsen. "In the Sky era, they were innovative and ahead of everyone else. Now they are still doing the same thing, but they are not winning anymore. The current INEOS has missed the mark, and the team needs to be thoroughly overhauled."
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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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- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
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