{"id":258535,"date":"2025-11-12T12:30:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T12:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/258535\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:30:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T12:30:29","slug":"cuts-at-ineos-sport-sponsor-searches-and-jim-ratcliffes-involvement-what-does-ineos-grenadiers-financial-future-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/258535\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuts at Ineos Sport, sponsor searches, and Jim Ratcliffe’s involvement \u2013 what does Ineos Grenadiers’ financial future look like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is one of cycling\u2019s great modern mysteries and recurring conversations: how committed is Sir Jim Ratcliffe to Ineos Grenadiers<\/a>? And how long will the British team continue being one of the sport\u2019s richest teams, if indeed it continues at all?<\/p>\n

When the British billionaire \u2013 the richest man in the UK until 2022 \u2013 replaced Sky as the WorldTour team\u2019s title sponsor in the spring of 2019<\/a>, he did so promising much of the same as before: regular and dominant Grand Tour success.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That, as has been extensively documented, hasn\u2019t quite happened. Egan Bernal<\/a> won the Tour de France<\/a> and Giro d\u2019Italia<\/a> in 2019 and 2021, respectively, and Teo Geoghegan Hart also claimed the maglia rosa in 2020, but since then, Ineos has been left chasing the new dominant teams \u2013 UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike. There have been Grand Tour podiums \u2013 four from Geraint Thomas<\/a> and two from Richard Carapaz \u2013 but nothing like the heady days of the Sky era.<\/p>\n

Set against the backdrop of the chemical company reporting huge losses and lamenting a shrinking chemical industry in Europe, many have pondered whether Ratcliffe will keep funding the cycling team. The arrival of TotalEnergies as jersey sponsor<\/a> before the 2025 Tour de France prompted even more speculation that Ratcliffe was looking for a managed long-term exit. So what does the future hold for Britain\u2019s first and only WorldTour team?<\/p>\n

Ineos Sport’s portfolio<\/p>\n

Ineos\u2019 2019 investment into cycling was the company\u2019s third major foray into the sporting landscape. It bought the Swiss football club FC Lausanne-Sport in 2017, and a year later invested in the British sailing team for the subsequent two America\u2019s Cups.<\/p>\n

Since then, Ineos has poured millions into athletics, Formula One, rugby and most famously into two more football clubs: OGC Nice in France and Manchester United in England. The investment in the latter has been reported to be in excess of \u00a31.3 billion.<\/p>\n

In an era of multi-club ownership models in football (interconnected networks of various clubs all owned or partly owned by the same entity), Ineos Sport operates as a similar concept but with a notable twist: it brings together not just three football clubs, but six sports, connecting each of them with one another. For many years, until his recent return to the cycling team<\/a>, Sir Dave Brailsford was the head of Ineos Sport.<\/p>\n

Ben Williams was Ineos Grenadiers\u2019 head of performance, support and innovation between October 2021 and October 2023, joining the cycling team from the Ineos-funded Britannia sailing team. He told Escape Collective<\/a> last year that there were monthly meetings between all sports, with Ineos Grenadiers adopting cooling and nutritional methods first used by Britannia.<\/p>\n

“There was a very clear collaboration between the two sports,” he said. “There was a lot of crossover between aerodynamics, hydraulics, fluids, electronics, and engineering. All teams across the [Ineos Sport] group made sure we were at the forefront of sports science, medicine and also from a tactical perspective. We had a strategy in place where we could have peers review our work to enable us to learn and challenge one another and pick up what other sports were doing.”<\/p>\n

\n

\"BARCELONA,\n<\/p>\n

Sir Jim Ratcliffe celebrated America’s Cup victory in 2024, but what has followed in the Ineos Sport world hasn’t been as positive (Image credit: Getty Images)
\nA sell off<\/p>\n

The year 2025, however, has seen Ineos Sport shrink. The sponsorship agreement with New Zealand rugby ended early and acrimoniously<\/a>, as did its funding of the America\u2019s Cup sailing team<\/a>. Ratcliffe is also reportedly looking to sell OGC Nice<\/a>. These decisions have led many observers to assert that Ineos is pulling back from its various sporting projects, fuelled by turmoil and heavy losses for the parent company.<\/p>\n

Financial accounts for 2024 detailed that total debts for Ineos amounted to almost \u00a310bn, with leading credit rating companies all expressing concern<\/a> about the company\u2019s long-term health, noting that those debts were between five and six times bigger than Ineos\u2019 annual revenues.<\/p>\n

Though the company is building a \u20ac4 billion sustainable ethane cracker plant<\/a> in the Belgian city of Antwerp, it has shut down a number of its chemical plants across Europe in recent years, <\/a>with the loss of hundreds of jobs. A smaller chemical industry in Europe is what Ineos has blamed. “We\u2019re at the eleventh hour,” Ratcliffe said in October<\/a>, calling on governments to scrap green and carbon taxes.<\/p>\n

Financial worries have seeped into other areas of the business, too. In August, Ineos sold the fashion brand Belstaff to Castore<\/a>; the company had lost money every year since it was bought by Ratcliffe in 2017. A few months earlier, Ineos sold Ineos Hygienics, <\/a>a further streamlining of the business. Meanwhile, its automotive industry \u2013 centred on the 4×4 Grenadiers, the car the cycling team is named after \u2013 hasn\u2019t been as successful as the company had wished.<\/p>\n

\n

\"NOGARO,\n<\/p>\n

Ineos Grenadiers use the Grenadier as a team car, but it’s commercial success has been mixed (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Seventy-three-year-old Ratcliffe\u2019s own finances have also taken a heavy hit \u2013 according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2025<\/a>, his personal worth dropped a whopping \u00a36.5bn last year, to now put his total amount at \u00a317.05bn.<\/p>\n

Yet despite those dark clouds, there appears to be an unwavering commitment to what remains of Ineos Sport. Alongside its funding of the cycling team, Ineos continues to invest heavily in Manchester United and the highly profitable <\/a>Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, where it has a 33% stake.<\/p>\n

Outside of sport, Ineos has spent \u00a3100 million funding the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research at the University of Oxford, for which Ratcliffe was awarded the Sheldon Medal, the university’s highest recognition for philanthropy.<\/p>\n

In its latest annual financial accounts posted to Companies House, Ineos Racing Limited \u2013 the subsidiary company behind Ineos Sport \u2013 noted a loss of \u00a3153.4m, almost the exact same figure as the year before. The 2024 report stated that the “directors have received confirmation that the parent company, Ineos Industries Limited, will continue to support the Company [Ineos Racing] for at least the 12 months from signing of these financial statements.”<\/p>\n

That is a financial commitment written down on legal papers, but it\u2019s also true that Ineos does not want to increase its investment in the cycling team.<\/p>\n

TotalEnergies’ involvement<\/p>\n

Last winter, when Ineos Grenadiers announced a search for new financial partners, its CEO John Allert issued an honest assessment of Ratcliffe\u2019s investment. Confirming that he had received reassurances that the team would exist until at least the end of 2028, he said that Ineos “have had numerous opportunities if they didn\u2019t want to be in the sport, to make that clear, but they do want to be in the sport.” In the same breath, however, Allert also said that \u201cit\u2019s fair to say that Ineos don\u2019t want to spend more money.”<\/a><\/p>\n

That shouldn\u2019t necessarily be read as Ratcliffe wanting to pull out. More, it\u2019s a reflection of the rising costs of running a WorldTour team. Official UCI documents seen by Cyclingnews show that budgets are increasing by 7.5% year on year, and many stakeholders \u2013 including the UCI, who are pushing for a budget cap \u2013 fear that that is simply unsustainable.<\/p>\n

It can be reasonably assumed that Ratcliffe wants to keep financially supporting Ineos Grenadiers, but that he wants to cap that amount. Financial accounts from 2019 suggest that Ineos invested around \u00a338 million (\u20ac43m) into the cycling team in 2019, and according to several insiders, that investment has since risen to \u00a345m (just north of \u20ac50m).<\/p>\n

In order to continue to compete with the best, Ratcliffe wanted help. Enter TotalEnergies. Ineos, the chemical company, and TotalEnergies, the petrochemical giant \u2013 France\u2019s biggest company \u2013 have had a strategic and business partnership for several years, and thus the two teaming up to fund cycling\u2019s sleeping giant was both a natural link-up and a marriage of convenience.<\/p>\n

“This jersey sponsorship reflects the broader industrial cooperation between Ineos and TotalEnergies on a global scale, in particular in Europe and Saudi Arabia,” TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyann\u00e9 said in June, tellingly referencing the shared business links.<\/p>\n

\n

\"MANTES-LA-VILLE,\n<\/p>\n

TotalEnergies was added to the Ineos jersey \u2013 in prime position \u2013 before the start of the Tour de France this year (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A number of well-informed insiders told Cyclingnews that TotalEnergies\u2019 investment into Ineos Grenadiers for the 2026 season will amount to around \u20ac15m \u2013 more or less what it has been investing into the eponymous French second division team<\/a> that it will stop funding at the end of the 2026 season after eight years.<\/p>\n

Those same insiders said that Ineos Grenadiers\u2019 total budget for the 2026 season would be between \u20ac50 million and \u20ac55 million, placing it among the top four richest teams in the world. For comparison, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has a reported budget of close to \u20ac60m, while both Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe<\/a> are also thought to have a budget of around \u20ac50m.<\/p>\n

TotalEnergies\u2019 arrival has allowed the British team to remain one of the richest in the peloton, but permitted Ratcliffe to reduce his investment, albeit marginally. His estimated \u20ac35-40m investment still outweighs that of most other WorldTour benefactors, so to suggest that Ratcliffe has had enough of his cycling project would be premature.<\/p>\n

Going forward, it is not yet known what TotalEnergies\u2019 long-term ambition with Ineos is, but there are a few clues, and even more speculatory murmurs.<\/p>\n

As part of the decision to become Ineos jersey sponsor, multiple sources told Cyclingnews that the British team would have to have a minimum of three French riders on its roster. Joining Axel Laurance <\/a>\u2013 the sole French rider for Ineos in 2025 \u2013 for next season are French champion Dorian Godon<\/a> and K\u00e9vin Vauquelin<\/a>. The latter can possibly expect Tour leadership in the future after finishing seventh on GC this past summer.<\/p>\n

At the moment, TotalEnergies is prohibited from becoming a co-title sponsor, as UCI regulations do not allow for a company to title sponsor two separate teams. But it is widely expected that from 2027, when its support to the French team ends, the British team will become Ineos-TotalEnergies. There are also rumours that the current plan is for the team to take on a French UCI licence from 2028 or 2029 \u2013 but Cyclingnews has been unable to verify that.<\/p>\n

A future with Ineos?<\/p>\n

Ineos’ and Ratcliffe’s commitment to the cycling team can be seen from opposing sides: the fact that the billionaire does not want to up his investment suggests that he is no longer as enamoured with the project as he once was. Additionally, by seeking out new partners he seems prepared to relinquish at least some control and is open to a changing of the team\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

But recent sporting decisions would suggest the opposite: from next season, the team will finally have an under-23 development team <\/a>\u2013 an owner who is no longer interested doesn\u2019t commit to finding and developing the next best young talent. What\u2019s more, Ratcliffe has brought Brailsford back into the fold as the team’s chief, and he is said to be personally excited by the expected arrival of Geraint Thomas into a newly-created management role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Though Ratcliffe rarely attends races or training camps \u2013 sources said he last witnessed a race at the 2024 Tour de France when stage 21 started in Monaco, his place of residence \u2013 team insiders said that he still signs off on all new contracts and signings. He might not be physically present, but he\u2019s involved in key decisions, guided by Brailsford, a man he trusts enormously.<\/p>\n

\n

\"MANCHESTER,\n<\/p>\n

Sir Dave Brailsford and Sir Jim Ratcliffe have worked together on the Manchester United project, when Brailsford headed up Ineos Sport (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Cyclingnews reached out to Ineos Grenadiers with a number of questions relating to Ineos\u2019 commitment, but a team spokesperson declined to comment. Ultimately, no one knows how long Ratcliffe will stick around. He\u2019s never said he wants to sell up, but nor has he publicly pledged to invest in the team for several more years.<\/p>\n

When Ratcliffe invested in the team back in 2019, he said that “cycling continues to mushroom for the general public as it is seen to be good for fitness and health, together with easing congestion and pollution in city environments”. But it doesn\u2019t appear that the Grenadiers is a passion project for Ratcliffe; unlike other billionaire owners of cycling teams, Ratcliffe is not known to be a keen cyclist himself.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been suggested that owning a cycling team is attractive to Ratcliffe as it is an antidote to his chemical company, proof that, through his business ventures, he supports green causes. What\u2019s more, his relationship with Brailsford, reportedly a genuine friend and trusted associate, probably keeps the cycling team somewhat immune to the axe he\u2019s wielded in other sports. It\u2019s not an impossible scenario that when Brailsford, 61, grows tired of cycling, Ratcliffe will too.<\/p>\n

What is certain among all the uncertainty is that though Ineos Grenadiers has faded from the once all-conquering beast it once was, intrigue and speculation still follows the team around intensely. And though the team isn\u2019t as successful as its glory days as Sky, Ineos and TotalEnergies jointly fund the team to be one of the richest in the world. Its riders really should be rewarding Ratcliffe (and now Pouyann\u00e9) with more success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is one of cycling\u2019s great modern mysteries and recurring conversations: how committed is Sir Jim Ratcliffe to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-258535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}