“They were missing experienced guys who know how to steer the ship” – New signing reveals what INEOS lacked in recent seasons

When Jack Haig tried to explain why a move to INEOS Grenadiers made sense for him in 2026, he ended up explaining something much bigger about the team itself.

“Maybe they were missing some more experienced guys that really know how to steer the ship in the right direction in certain critical moments,” he said in conversation with Cycling News.

It is a line that lands harder than perhaps even Haig intended. Because for the past two seasons, that is precisely what INEOS appeared to lack.

The retirements of Geraint Thomas at the end of 2025 and Luke Rowe the year before did not just remove experience from the roster. They removed riders who understood how to control a race from inside it. Riders who could read moments before they unfolded. Riders who did not need instructions over the radio to know when something was about to go wrong.

In their absence, INEOS often found themselves present in races without ever quite feeling in control of them. Strong line-ups, talented leaders, good legs on the day, but missing the calm authority that once defined the Team Sky and early INEOS years.

Haig’s observation cuts straight to that reality. “I hope I can step into that,” he added, speaking about his role within the squad. “Be at the front of the bike race, making some sort of critical decisions in critical moments – hopefully being more of an influential player.”

He is not describing a domestique role. He is describing a road captain.

Haig’s arrival does not sit in isolation. It comes alongside the return of Dave Brailsford to day-to-day involvement with the team at the back end of 2025, a move widely viewed as a reset moment for the British outfit. It comes as INEOS launch their first-ever in-house development structure through the INEOS Grenadiers Racing Academy, aimed at rebuilding culture and standards from the bottom up.

And it comes after two seasons in which the team’s results rarely matched the strength of the names on paper.

Through different voices, a consistent theme has emerged. Young riders inside the Academy speak about organisation, clarity and presence returning. Senior figures talk about hunger and standards. Now, a new signing points out the practical racing element that had quietly disappeared.

The ability to steer the ship.

Haig knows what that looks like. He was part of a Grand Tour-winning structure with Orica. He stood on the Vuelta podium himself. He spent five seasons at Bahrain Victorious in a team built around collective decision-making in chaotic race situations.

He is not arriving to chase his own GC ambitions. He is arriving because he believes INEOS can once again become a team capable of podiuming and winning Grand Tours, and because he sees a role for himself in making that happen.

“I think it’s a really nice place that I can restart the career, find a bit more motivation, find a bit more enjoyment, and just be part of a nice environment,” he said.

That enjoyment, he explains, comes from being involved in the decisive parts of races again.

Viewed alongside the wider changes at INEOS, Haig’s comments feel less like personal motivation and more like a missing piece being put back into place.

Leadership at the top through Brailsford. Structure and pathway through the Racing Academy. And now, race intelligence and experience are returning into the peloton itself.

For a team openly intent on working its way back to the top step of the Tour de France, that combination may prove as important as any headline signing.

Because, as Haig’s words quietly underline, INEOS did not forget how to train riders or sign talent.

They simply lost, for a while, the people who knew how to win bike races when it mattered most.