{"id":312250,"date":"2025-11-27T13:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312250\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T13:29:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:29:07","slug":"geraint-thomas-lands-new-ineos-role-as-struggling-team-make-major-reshuffle-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312250\/","title":{"rendered":"Geraint Thomas lands new Ineos role as struggling team make major reshuffle | Cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geraint Thomas has been appointed as the new director of racing at Ineos Grenadiers, only a few weeks after retiring from competition at this year\u2019s Tour of Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team has been my home since day one, and stepping into this role feels like a natural next step,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

The move by Thomas, who was Tour de France winner in 2018, has been long-anticipated and comes after a major management reshuffle at Ineos Grenadiers which has seen sports directors Zak Dempster and Oli Cookson move to the revamped Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team.<\/p>\n

According to Ineos, Thomas\u2019 newly created leadership role will see him working closely with Ineos head of sport, Dave Brailsford<\/a>, and performance director, Scott Drawer, \u201cproviding crucial input into race strategy, rider recruitment, development and race readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas, who last finished on a Grand Tour podium at the 2024 Giro d\u2019Italia when he placed third to Tadej Pogacar, rode this year\u2019s Tour de France and has a blend of stage racing and one-day racing experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m passionate about helping the next generation come through, to pass on that experience and keep pushing the team forward towards our mission of winning Grand Tours again,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

The Welshman\u2019s guile, experience and knowledge of the peloton will plug a gap in expertise that was apparent in recent seasons as the British team struggled to compete for the podium positions in Grand Tours.<\/p>\n

That much was acknowledged last July when former Grenadiers team principal Brailsford, making his return to the Tour de France, admitted that following his sojourn at Manchester United, he had \u201ca lot of catching up to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ineos Grenadiers have not won a Grand Tour since 2021 and the once-dominant team has been criticised by Thomas himself and former staff for falling behind four-time Tour de France winner Pogacar and his rivals, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIneos are not where they want to be, nor where they need to be and the gap is not small,\u201d aerodynamics guru Dan Bigham said, after announcing he was leaving the team in 2024.<\/p>\n

Thomas new position was first mooted in 2024 when he told the Guardian that the team\u2019s management was \u201clike a coalition government\u201d<\/a> and that \u201cit was a lot more straightforward with Dave at the top. There was clarity with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brailsford\u2019s long-standing working relationship with the Welshman has been key to his recruitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeraint knows what the process takes, how to deal with the highs and lows of elite sport and his willingness to now share this and mentor others to do the same is a great asset for the team,\u201d Brailsford said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geraint Thomas has been appointed as the new director of racing at Ineos Grenadiers, only a few weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-312250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}