Ineos Grenadiers Has a 5-Point Plan to Win the Tour de France

The time is now for Ineos Grenadiers. The road back to super team status and the podium of the Tour de France begins in 2026.

At least, that’s according to newly installed “Director of Racing,” Geraint Thomas.

“There’s been a lot of talk about transition – ‘the team’s in transition, blah blah blah.’ The transition’s over now, mate,” Thomas said in a recent episode of his “Watts Occurring” podcast.

“There’s no more saying ‘we’re in transition,’” Thomas vowed. “That becomes an excuse for not performing.”

If the team has “transitioned,” Thomas is its poster boy.

The Welshman’s appointment to top management is the cornerstone of the 2026 makeover of a team that once trampled everybody, but has since lost its way.

Next year, the very British squad takes on a French accent, pulls on some buzz-worthy white shorts, and could be led by one of the GC revelations of the past season.

For Thomas, it’s yellow jersey or bust for this “post-transition” team.

“It’s no secret, [the goal is] winning the Tour again,” Thomas told podcast co-host Luke Rowe.

“UAE is the top team right now. Visma was there for a couple of years, then UAE overtook them,” Thomas continued. “For me, this is the start of us heading back there. That’s the goal.”

After winning seven Tour de France titles in eight years through the 2010s, Ineos Grenadiers wants back in the game.

But how does a squad that’s been overshadowed by modern mega-teams and grand tour dominators Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard return to supremacy?

Here’s Ineos Grenadiers’ 5-point revival plan:

1: Betting on old riders for new staff

They say change starts at the top, and Ineos Grenadiers is making that idiom very real this winter.

The revolving door of sport directors spun fast for Ineos Greandiers this winter.

Key sport directors Zak Dempster and  Oli Cookson got poached by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, leaving a void behind the wheel. There’s also been little mention recently of Ineos Grenadiers CEO John Allert, whose future is unclear.

Dempster and Cookson’s replacements?

Recently retired pros Elia Viviani and Daryl Impey, who come to join Thomas in something of an “old boys’ club” in the boardroom of Ineos Grenadiers. Both Viviani and Impey are friends or former teammates of Thomas.

However, they both – like Thomas – are significantly lacking in management experience. Impey worked one year on staff at Israel Premier-Tech, and Viviani only just hung up his wheels.

Thomas, Viviani, and Impey will be directing on good vibes and racing familiarity as much as managerial know-how in 2026. It could be a rocky opening few months for these management rookies and their riders.

Dave Brailsford is back in a day-to-day role at the top of the cycling team after he stepped away from his experiment in soccer. The former Tour de France mastermind will need to steady the ship.

2: Turning to France

After years of being as British as a cup of tea, Ineos Grenadiers picks up a very important French accent in 2026.

The recent arrival of TotalEnergies as backer heralded the signing of French talents Kévin Vauquelin and national champion Dorian Godon this winter. They join 2025 recruit Axel Laurance at Ineos Grenadiers’ new-formed French division.

Still only 24, Vauquelin could give the team a new GC focus over Egan Bernal, Carlos Rodriguez, and Thymen Arensman through his three-year deal.

Bernal and Rodriguez are inconsistent, and sorry Thymen, but you’re never going to drop Pogi.

Meanwhile, Vauquelin believes he’s only just getting started. He told L’Equipe this week that his breakout seventh-place finish at the Tour de France stoked a fire for big things with his new team.

“Now the dream is the yellow jersey,” he told L’Equipe. “I missed it by a hair. That really pissed me off, and now I want to get my revenge.

“I’ve had the white jersey, the fervor of the fans, a stage win, a top-10 in the general classification … But I haven’t had that yellow jersey for even one day. That’s the dream.”

Vauquelin has only raced three grand tours and completed just two. Nobody’s going to be tipping him to be wearing yellow on stage 21 of the Tour de France as soon as next summer.

That said, an Ineos Grenadiers makeover after a career with the cash-strapped Arkéa team could convert Vauquelin into a “French big thing” of the status of Paul Seixas.

Brailsford and Thomas will be brushing up on their French already.

3: Stealing a new British hope?

2026 and beyond might not be all about Kévin for Ineos Grenadiers.

The squad might have another trick up its sleeve.

Ongoing rumors stoked by Daniel Benson on his Substack that Oscar Onley will break his contract with Picnic-PostNL to join Ineos gained heat this week.

The young Scot was as vague as possible Monday when Cyclingnews asked him if he will stay with his current team in the new year.

“For now, yes. We’ll see,” Onley said.

“But yeah, things are still up in the air a little bit.”

Onley was even more of a revelation at the 2025 Tour de France than Vauquelin. The 23-year-old climbed with the “bigs” in the final week and hung tough for a wildly unexpected fourth-place finish.

For Ineos Grenadiers, signing Onley would be an even bigger deal than them bagging Vauquelin.

Onley’s young, he’s got a British passport, and has shown he can more consistently deliver stage-race success than the Frenchman. He would step straight into the “Young Brit Star” role left vacant by Tom Pidcock.

Onley would also take the team full circle and back to its founding mission. Team Sky set out in 2010 to put a British rider into the maillot jaune. It could restart in 2026 with the same raison d’etre.

Another potential new name for 2026? Sam Welsford.

Currently signed with Red Bull, he’s reportedly on the brink of putting pen to paper at the Ineos training camp on the Costa Blanca.

Sure, the Aussie sprinter isn’t going to beat back Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan in a Tour de France sprint, but he’s a near guarantee for mojo-boosting wins in the season-opening races Down Under.

Watch this space on both Onley and Welsford.

If Ineos steals the Scot, it would be the heist of the off-season.

4: Keeping hold of the old guard

Onley and Vauquelin could be Ineos Grenadiers’ future, but it’s not letting go of its past either.

Team lynchpins Michal Kwiatkowski and Ben Swift just signed contract extensions, as did Lucas Hamilton, Kim Heiduk, and Brandon Rivera.

Thomas couldn’t be more stoked to have his two long-time henchmen Kwiatkowski and Swift sticking around for his post-transition team.

“Kwiato has been part of the biggest victories in the team both on a personal level and also in a supporting role,” Thomas said. “Keeping him involved and having his experience in the rider group is hugely beneficial.

“And then there’s Swifty,” Thomas continued. “He’s the elder statesman now, but last season he proved exactly why experience counts. He sets the tone for the younger lads coming through and will play a big part in helping them get to know what bike racing is all about.”

Ineos Grenadiers needs some stability if it’s going to ring all the changes this winter. Former world champ Kwiatkowski and “OG” 2010 Team Sky rider Swift provide just that.

However, there is some tension there.

With Thomas, Viviani, and Brailsford in management, and Kwiatkowski and Swift in the saddle, Ineos Grenadiers is caught between its former glories and a bold new future.

Which version of Ineos wins out?

We’ll see in a few months’ time.

5: Choosing white shorts for a winning era (?)

Ineos Grenadiers wants to return to the conversation and mark the start of a new era in 2026. It seems to have figured out how to do just that, without even winning any bike races.

The squad teased a bold new look this weekend courtesy of its clothing partner Gobik, and the future is … white.

Social media reels and a paparazzi shot from a fan hanging out near the team’s Spanish training camp suggest Ineos will pair its orange jerseys with oft-controversial white shorts in 2026.

It’s a bold look that already set tongues wagging on the social-sphere.

But how might those white bibs look with a Tour de France yellow jersey?

Thomas, Vauquelin, Bernal, and Co. will hope to find out, fast.