Ineos Grenadiers' staff shake-up continues
Ineos Grenadiers' staff shake-up continues
Kurt Asle Arvesen joins as lead sports director but still no news on the team's actual Director of Racing
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I’m hoping to have another one or even two stories today. It just depends on whether I can finalise an interview later this morning. Exciting!
In the meantime, here’s a story on the Ineos Grenadiers press release that landed after 6 pm on Tuesday. Along with the news that the team’s lead mechanic just announced he’s leaving.
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Ineos Grenadiers' transitional phase continues with what the team have called ‘performance structure changes’ following a six-month review by Scott Drawer, the team’s Performance Director.
Along with the announcement of several new staff, the team appears to have altered their strategic focus in races.
In total, five new staff members have been added. However, the team did not mention Director of Racing Steve Cummings, who has not been at a race for the team since June and was controversially left at home for the Tour de France. He was spotted at the Tour de l’Avenir but Ineos Grenadiers did not have a team at the race as the event only features national squads.
According to the team: “There will be a renewed focus on specialist coaching in time trials, sprint and power development, endurance training science, race strategy, aerodynamics and technology development. The approach has been informed and influenced by other disciplines including track cycling and endurance sports including cross-country skiing, triathlon and endurance running to apply emerging practices in training and competition science.”
On a practical level, the staff shake-up includes the return of Kurt Asle Arvesen as the lead Sports Director. That’s a role the team currently doesn’t have but sounds quite similar to Cummings’ Race Director position. The Norwegian spent the last two years of his racing career at the team in 2010 and 2011. He later became a DS at Sky before moving on to Uno-X.
Asle Arvesen has been joined in the DS room by Leonardo Basso, another former Sky/Ineos alumni, who spent this season on the team as a freelance DS. His move has been made permanent - presumably after Luke Rowe decided to take up a similar role at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale instead of moving into the car at Ineos.
Tom Helleman joins as the team’s new Lead Performance Coach from dsm-firmenich, while Dr Mehdi Kordi has signed up as the Head of Performance Support and Innovation. Dr Luca Oggiano has moved into the role of Director of Research and Development.
“I’ve spent six months listening, observing, and working with the team to determine what's needed to set ourselves up for excellence for 2025 and beyond. I’ve been looking at every element of how we race, how we train and how we support our riders in the changing landscape of professional cycling,” Drawer said.
“We have a highly motivated, hungry and ambitious team of coaches, sport directors and performance specialists who want to create an environment that allows our riders to fulfil their potential. That collective energy and desire will set us up for the challenges and opportunities that await in 2025. We are going to spend the rest of this year making further positive changes: setting the team’s performance plans and goals, executing some key training camps and getting the whole team ready to race hard in January. We want to set the right tone from the start and will be working closely with our riders to establish the culture which will facilitate success and be fundamental to our future,” he added.
Ineos Grenadiers recently ended their worst-ever season on the road, winning just 14 races and enduring multiple moments of criticism from departing staff and current riders. What was supposed to be a transitional year back towards Tour de France contention has only seen the team fall further behind their rivals. Interestingly there was not a single direct mention of the Tour de France in their Tuesday statement, while their focus on sprint development is also intriguing given the team’s lack of sprinters on their roster.
Dan Bigham left the team in a disgruntled fashion back in the summer, telling the Telegraph that “it’s clear as day the team should be doing things a lot better.”
“I feel that a lot of performance we’re leaving on the table and that frustrates me because it’s clear as day we should be doing things a lot better. Let’s be honest, Ineos are not where they want to be, not where they need to be and the gap is not small.”
The central disruption towards the end of the year has been the ongoing transfer saga involving Tom Pidcock, with the rider openly questioning his deselection for Il Lombardia. For now, Pidcock remains on the team roster for 2025 but a deal could theoretically still be rescued if Ineos Grenadiers come back to the table and are willing to compromise on the numbers involved in his contract release.
What’s also unclear from the team’s recent announcement is their strategy for rider recruitment - an area in which they have been left behind in the last few years owing to several underwhelming signings and the lack of a development team.
“Scott has conducted a thorough review of every element of performance with his trademark energy and focus. He has come up with a clear plan and the decisive changes needed to set us up for success in the coming years. “This is a team with a proud legacy of success, and we are all determined to get back to the top step of the podium. Our new performance structure and approach are key to building the next chapter for the team,” John Allert, the team’s CEO, said.
In a very recent development, the team’s head mechanic Diego Costa, this morning announced that he would be leaving the team at the end of the year.
“At the beginning of March, I felt it was time to turn the page for my professional future. A third of my life spent in the same team left an indelible mark that I will carry with me forever. I sincerely thank every team member and those who gave me the opportunity to lead a wonderful group of mechanics. My heartfelt thanks to Fausto Pinarello, a special person who goes beyond the work side and who I'm sure will remain a fundamental person at all times in my future,” he posted on LinkedIn.
I’m Daniel Benson and I’m the former Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews, GCN, and VeloNews. I’ve recently set up a Substack with the aim of delivering you regular news, interviews, rider transfers and race analysis. To subscribe to my Substack please drop your email in the box below, and to find out more about what I’m doing please click here.