Analysis: What does the relationship between Ineos Grenadiers and camsmajaco mean for the future?
It's an arms race in the junior ranks, and the British WorldTour team have stepped up
In late December, Ineos Grenadiers announced a new partnership with the junior British team camsmajaco.
The news probably didn’t generate as many headlines as, say, the Oscar Onley transfer, the unveiling of the U23 team, or the confirmation that Geraint Thomas had a role within the Ineos senior management, but in terms of the future for young British riders, this was arguably the most important step Ineos took in the off-season.
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To trace the story back to its roots, we need to wind back a few months. In the spring of 2025, I saw Giles Pidcock and Simon Watts chatting at the junior version of E3 Saxo Classic.
For those who aren’t aware, Pidcock ran the Fensham squad that helped develop the likes of Sam Watson and Matt Brennan for the WorldTour, while Watts previously worked for British Cycling and is now the Performance Pathway Manager at Ineos. He’s the man who single-handedly got the U23 squad off the ground and established the new relationship with camsmajaco, a merged team between Fensham and then Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco junior women’s team.
I wasn’t privy to their conversation, although Watts gave me a highly insightful interview a few minutes later. It was clear that Pidcock and the man from Ineos were working throughout 2025 to build a successful relationship that would help identify and develop young British talent.
Read more: Two leading British junior squads merge to create 2026 super team 🇬🇧
The wheels turn slowly at Ineos, as we well know, but come December, and following the Fensham and Tofauti merger, a deal was announced between Ineos and the junior squad that will formulate and sustain real opportunities for junior riders from Britain in their quest to make it to the WorldTour.
“We already had the cake, and now we have the icing. Simon Watts was talking to both of us while we were discussing the merger about possibly working with Ineos. When we decided to merge, that made Simon’s job a lot easier because it’s a lot easier to have a relationship with one entity rather than two smaller ones. Then we discussed what the collaboration would look like,” Pidcock told me over the phone when I asked about how the deal came together.