"We want to win the Tour" - INEOS hopeful Sir Dave Brailsford's return can signal 'a new chapter of success'

There is a genuine sense of optimism within the INEOS Grenadiers ahead of the 2025 Tour de France. One of the big reasons for this, is the return of Sir Dave Brailsford, who previously spearheaded their Grand Tour dominance in the 2010s, after a spell working for Manchester United.

INEOS became the final team to announce their lineup for the Tour de France on Wednesday, and according to a report by Daniel Benson, a big reason for that delay was the fact that Brailsford was having a very hands on approach into the team's Grand Tour selection, despite having only just returned to the fold. "Dave's got stuck straight in. There's no doubt about that, and he loves it," team manager John Allert explains of the situation in quotes collected by Cycling News, although he denies Brailsford was the reason behind the delayed announcement. 

"He's like a kid in a sweet shop talking about climbs, and getting back to the mountains. For him, that's the battlefield that he knows and knows and loves," Allert continues. "We've welcomed him back into the team with open arms. He's a kind of not-so-secret weapon for us to use, and we plan on using him to the fullest extent we can. It's great to have him back."

As mentioned, at the height of the Team Sky dominance, when Chris Froome was running riot in the Grand Tours, Brailsford was the man pulling the strings behind the scenes. Since the Englishman stepped back from the day to day running of the team, Grand Tour success has proven much tougher to come by for the now-INEOS Grenadiers, but as Allert himself says, the return of a winning mentality such as Brailsford's could signal "a new chapter of success".

"We want to win the Tour, but there's no point just saying you want to win the Tour, you've got to do something about it. That in part, is why it's great to welcome Dave back into the fold. Dave loves a performance challenge, and this is the biggest one there," Allert said. "Dave and everyone at INEOS, everyone in the team, we all want to win the Tour. We've got to do more than we're doing, We've got to get better than the people that are dominating at the moment. That's what we're doing. We're getting stuck in and that's our mission. That's why it's great to have Dave as part of it."

"I'd like to think that from 2010 we earned the right to be called a super team. We're a super team that needs to win more," Allert continues. "It's not cheap to win and budgets keep going up. Once we were at the top of that heap and were not any more. It's not just about money, it's also about competence and strategy and resources, hard work and all those good things."