![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/xWelsford-by-Jemma-Knight-2-1200x800.jpg.pagespeed.ic.nF1H7RV9ID.jpg\")
Sam Welsford has started the last couple of seasons like a rocket in Australia, though replicating those winning runs on the roads of Europe has proven more challenging, so far <\/p>\nSam Welsford has started the last couple of seasons like a rocket in Australia, though replicating those winning runs on the roads of Europe has proven more challenging, so far <\/p>\n
Ineos Grenadiers has signed Australian Sam Welsford on a two-year deal, after the Olympic Games gold medal winner failed to fire with Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe over the last couple of seasons. The British team has also made claims about Welsford\u2019s achievements to date that seem difficult to understand.<\/p>\n
A very talented rider, on both road and track, the now 29-year-old Welsford started the last two seasons in Australia with several wins. However, he was unable to replicate that success on the roads of Europe, where a stage at Tour de Hongrie was his only victory over the last two years.<\/p>\n
In total, he has won four races on the European scene since first becoming pro road rider, with Team DSM, at the start of the 2022 season, following his gold medal win the previous year at the Tokyo Games on the track.<\/p>\n
Despite struggling to hit the mark on the road, and making minimal impact in big one-day races, Ineos Grenadiers has now described him as \u201ca consistent threat in bunch sprints, and a powerful presence across the classics\u201d.<\/p>\n
Weslford came to road racing late as he focussed for years on his track career, winning bronze, silver and gold at the last three Olympic Games in the team pursuit. He is also a four-time world champion on the track; three times in team pursuit and once in the scratch race.<\/p>\n
Because he switched to the road late, Weslford has ridden just 11 one-day World Tour races; 10th at Classic Brugge-De Panne last year the best of his results, by a long way, in those races.
The only race he has performed well in that night be referred to as a classic \u2013 a Belgian classic \u2013 is Scheldeprijs (1.Pro), where he has been 7th, 2nd and 3rd.<\/p>\n
However, Ineos Grenadiers has still said it its publicity material announcing the signing of Welford\u2019s signing that he is already a power classics rider and a threat in the sprints. Perhaps more accurately, new Ineos Grenadiers director of racing, Geraint Thomas, has pointed to Welsford\u2019s potential for the future as the reason for signing him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving been given an early insight into what he\u2019s capable of physically, we believe there\u2019s still plenty to unlock with Sam,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThe team has shown how dialled we are in positioning our fast guys for the finish, and we\u2019ll do the same to give him opportunities to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a great track pedigree \u2013 Olympic and multiple world champion in the team pursuit \u2013 so the way he\u2019s used to working there will fit right into our team environment as well. I\u2019m super excited to see him get stuck in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welsford, who undoubtedly has the potential to win major races, said he is delighted to join the British World Tour team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to become a Grenadier. I\u2019ve always admired the team\u2019s professionalism and the way they commit fully to a goal,\u201d he said of his new contract, during which he will work with fellow road-track fastman, Eliai Vivianni, a new DS at the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like this is the exact right environment for me to keep progressing as a sprinter and to chase big results. I\u2019m very hungry to contribute, to learn and to race with the kind of intent that this team is renowned for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Welsford has started the last couple of seasons like a rocket in Australia, though replicating those winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-350804","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\/350804","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=350804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}