"We've all got a little bit extra in us this year" - Joshua Tarling sees feel-good factor return to resurgent INEOS Grenadiers in 2025

After a few years in the doldrums, the INEOS Grenadiers have started the 2025 season with a real spring in their step. 6 victories to date have been, with numerous impressive performances elsewhere and according to one of the team's brightest stars - Joshua Tarling, the feel-good factor is well and truly back with the British-based super-team.

"I think it's been clear we've all got a little bit extra in us this year," Tarling assesses in quotes collected by Cycling Weekly following the end of Paris-Nice 2025 saw Magnus Sheffield take a solo stage win in Nice, whilst Thymen Arensman consolidated his spot on the final GC podium. "I think there was a lot of talking last year about changing the mentality, but this year, there has been a lot more actual doing. I think you can feel it. Everybody's really motivated and there's the belief it'll work as well, which is the really nice part of that."

As touched upon by the Welshman there, the time for talking about change really seems to be over for INEOS. After a big winter overhaul saw notable departures of riders such as Tom Pidcock and Jhonatan Narvaez, plus staff exits from the likes of Steve Cummings and Dan Bigham, the new, refreshed INEOS Grenadiers look free from the shackles of past expectations so far this season, racing with an excitement and vigour not seen from the team in a long while.

"I just think we have really changed the coaching styles around," Tarling adds. "The training camps, they were sort of harder to survive [in the past], rather than being like a get together, if you get me. So it has been a really good, a really good change."

"I'm not sure there wasn't clarity before," adds INEOS Grenadiers' sports director Oli Cookson. "But I would say that we have a clear idea and we've worked a lot and talked a lot with the riders and the performance group about how we're going to race this year and our approach to it. I think the riders are also really enjoying racing, and if you can enjoy any job you do, it's really key. They're going out with a buzz and a fighting spirit and believe that they can define a race and engineer scenarios that will allow our objectives to be fruitful. Everyone's been involved, the riders and staff, in talking about this and moving it forward."