🚨 Confirmed: Ineos Grenadiers sign Benjamín Noval 🇬🇧 🇪🇸
Spanish wonderkid will join the team in 2027
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As we first reported during the Spring Classics, Ineos Grenadiers have signed Benjamín Noval.
The highly rated 16-year-old currently races for Samuel Sanchez’s MMR Academy team in Spain.
Ineos have been tracking Noval since the start of the year, but several teams were in the mix before Ineos made their move. He’ll complete the 2025 and 2026 seasons with his current squad before moving to the British WorldTour squad in 2027.
“Joining the Ineos Grenadiers is a dream come true for me. This is one of the best cycling teams in the world and I’m very happy to join its ranks so they can help me develop my qualities to their full extent. I want to thank the team for believing in me, and I hope to pay them back in the near future,” Noval said in a press release issued on Thursday.
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If his name is familiar, it’s because his father, also Benjamín Noval, was a pro rider in the 2000s and raced for Saxo Bank, Astana and Discovery, with teammates including Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador.
Noval junior has already won plenty of races this season, taking the victory in the Trofeo Santiago Santana, as well as a stage and the overall at the Challenge Comarcas Leonesas. He has also won the Vuelta Ciclista a la Montaña Central de Asturias, G.P. F.W.R. BARON - Pieve del Grappa - Possagno, Memorial José Luis Junco - Aytos. Val de San Vicente y De Ribadedeva, and Vuelta Ciclista al Besaya.
In fact, he’s won every stage race he’s started this season and has 13 wins in total.
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He’s also a star on the cyclo-cross scene, winning national titles and finishing fourth in the junior race at the UCI World Championships earlier this year.
There’s still no news on a potential U23 team for Ineos Grenadiers in 2026, and at the moment, the team is running out of time if they are to build something from scratch next season.
However, the signing of Noval is a major coup for the British team. The challenge now will be providing the right level of support and infrastructure for the young rider once he joins the team full-time - an aspect that Ineos has struggled with in the past when it comes to signing riders directly from the junior ranks.
“Benjamín has all the hallmarks of a rider who can develop into something very special. He’s intelligent on the bike and driven off it, and he has already shown a real edge in competitive environments. We’re excited to support his transition to the WorldTour and look forward to helping him fulfil his potential within our performance system,” said Scott Drawer, the team’s Performance Director.
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That's some palmares the lad's racked up this season!!