“We are missing a leader who can compete” – Egan Bernal brutally honest about INEOS struggles at 2026 Tour de France
CyclingThursday, 16 July 2026 at 16:00
Netcompany INEOS once won seven editions of the Tour de France in eight years during the 2010s. At the halfway point of the 2026 race, the British squad have no rider inside the general classification top 10, remain without a stage victory and have recorded only three individual top-10 stage finishes.
Egan Bernal, the man who delivered the last of those seven yellow jerseys in 2019, believes the team still possesses the riders and structure required to control major races. What it does not have, in his assessment, is somebody capable of challenging at the very front.
“We have some very good riders,” Bernal told MARCA. “If you look at the squad, there are riders of enormous quality. We are missing a leader who can compete against those who are slightly further ahead.”
Bernal leads the INEOS general classification challenge in 11th, 12:15 behind Tadej Pogacar. Thymen Arensman sits 30th and Kevin Vauquelin 36th.
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INEOS struggle to leave a mark
INEOS started the Tour with second place in the opening team time trial, but that performance has not developed into a sustained challenge for either the yellow jersey or stage victories.
Vauquelin’s sixth place on Stage 4 in Foix, Dorian Godon’s eighth in the Stage 7 sprint at Bordeaux and Filippo Ganna’s fifth behind the Stage 9 breakaway in Ussel were the team’s only individual top-10 results across the opening 11 stages.
Carlos Rodriguez won in Morzine and finished fifth overall in 2023, while Arensman delivered two mountain-stage victories in 2025. This time, INEOS reached the second half of the Tour without either a stage win or a rider in the GC top 10.
The team’s original plans were disrupted before the Grand Depart when intended general classification leader Oscar Onley was ruled out after injuring his shoulder in a crash. Rodriguez was also absent, while Bernal, Ganna and Arensman arrived after riding the Giro d’Italia.
Bernal had not expected to start the Tour, let alone become the team’s leading rider in the general classification. “First, I wasn’t planning to come to the Tour,” he said. “Then I came without planning to ride for the general classification, and now I’m riding for the general classification.”
Egan Bernal in action on Stage 6 of the 2026 Tour de France
Bernal still trusts the INEOS structure
“With a solid leader, that rider would have the full support of the team, 100%,” Bernal said. “This is a structure which knows what it means to win and has riders capable of controlling a race.”
Bernal joined the organisation in 2018, won the Tour one year later and added the Giro d’Italia to his palmares in 2021. His return to the upper reaches of a Tour classification followed the life-threatening training crash he suffered in January 2022.
“In this race, I have occupied different positions,” Bernal said. “I have been at the very top, then also at the very bottom, just another rider, and now I’m somewhere in between, fighting in the general classification. I feel good. The important thing is that I enjoy what I do so much, and I feel proud of what I am doing.”
Bernal wants to finish career with INEOS
Bernal has been allowed to interpret the race without carrying the expectations once attached to him as the team’s outright Tour leader. “The team treat me very well,” he said. “I feel a lot of support and respect, and they give me a huge amount of freedom.”
That freedom leaves Bernal able to protect his general classification position or pursue a stage opportunity if the right moment emerges. “Anything is possible. Why not?”
His attachment to INEOS has survived both the most successful and most difficult periods of his career. “I would love to finish my career with this team,” Bernal said. “When you have spent many years somewhere, you don’t want to leave. It’s difficult to picture myself with another team.”
Bernal still wants to finish his career with INEOS, but his assessment leaves little room for sentiment. The team’s last Tour winner does not believe the current squad contains the leader required to fight for yellow again.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Its known as courtesy not rules, tradition not laws.abstractengineer16-07-2026
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