Ineos Grenadiers

For the sailing team, see Ineos Team UK. For the vehicle, see Ineos Grenadier.

Ineos Grenadiers
Team information
UCI codeSKY (2010–2019)
INS (2019–2020)
IGD (2020–)
RegisteredUnited Kingdom
Founded2009 (2009)
Discipline(s)Road
StatusUCI WorldTeam
BicyclesPinarello
ComponentsShimano
WebsiteTeam home page
Key personnel
General managerJohn Allert
Team manager(s)Servais Knaven[1]
Brett Lancaster[2]
Matteo Tosatto
Team name history
2010 Sky Professional Cycling
2011–2013 Sky Procycling
2014–2019 Team Sky
2019–2020 Team Ineos
2020– Ineos Grenadiers
Current season

Ineos Grenadiers (UCI team code: IGD[3]) (stylised as INEOS Grenadiers) (formerly Team Sky from 2010 to 2019, and Team Ineos from 2019 to 2020) is a British professional cycling team that competes at the UCI WorldTeam level. The team is based at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, England, with a logistics base in Deinze, Belgium.[4] The team is managed by British Cycling's former performance director, Sir Dave Brailsford. The company Tour Racing Ltd.[5] is the corporate entity behind the team in all its iterations, which in line with cycling practice adopts the name of their current primary sponsor.

The team launched in 2010 with the ambition of winning the Tour de France with a British rider within five years,[6] a goal achieved in two years when Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de France, becoming the first British winner in its history, while teammate and fellow Briton Chris Froome finished as the runner up and then went on to win the 2013 Tour de France. Froome won Sky's third Tour de France title in 2015, fourth in 2016 and fifth in 2017. Froome went on to win the 2017 Vuelta a España and the 2018 Giro d'Italia, making him the champion of all three Grand Tours at once.

Froome was retrospectively awarded victory in the 2011 Vuelta a España, after the original victor Juan José Cobo was stripped of his title due to doping. The team won the 2018 Tour de France with Geraint Thomas, the 2019 Tour de France and 2021 Giro d'Italia with Egan Bernal, and the 2020 Giro d'Italia with Tao Geoghegan Hart, meaning that the team won seven of the eight editions of the Tour de France between 2012 and 2019, with four different riders, and five further grand tours between 2011 and 2021.

Following the decision by British media company Sky UK not to renew sponsorship, the team secured financial support from the British chemicals group Ineos, with the team thereby renamed as Team Ineos from April 2019.[7] Effective from August 2020 the team was rebranded as Ineos Grenadiers to reflect Ineos Automotive's proposed new off-road vehicle, the Ineos Grenadier.[8]

  1. ^ "Team Sky hands Knaven and Portal directeur sportif roles". cyclingnews.com. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. ^ "Brett Lancaster retires from racing, joins Sky as sport director". VeloNews.com. 18 December 2015. Archived from the original on 20 December 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  3. ^ "INEOS GRENADIERS". UCI. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  4. ^ William Fotheringham (26 February 2009). "Sky to sponsor British Tour de France team". The Guardian. London.
  5. ^ "TOUR RACING LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Team Sky: A meteoric rise to success in just two years". The Independent. 22 July 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2013. Team Sky launched in 2010 with the ambition of winning the Tour de France with a British rider within five years. Bradley Wiggins has achieved it in three.
  7. ^ "Team Ineos set to race for first time earlier than planned". BBC Sport. 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  8. ^ "The new TDF bikes and kit of the rebranded Ineos Grenadiers". CyclingTips. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.