‘He’s still involved’ - Ineos Grenadiers downplay impact of Dave Brailsford departure

Following the news that Dave Brailsford has departed Ineos Grenadiers as team principal, riders and staff have downplayed what the impact of that will be on the team.

Brailsford has been the team principal at Ineos Grenadiers, formerly Team Sky, since its inception, but has recently taken on a role as the director of Ineos’ wider sports programme, which includes OGC Nice, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team, and will soon add Manchester United to its portfolio.

It’s understood that this new direction has seen Brailsford gradually take a step back from the day-to-day running of the cycling team - he has rarely been seen at races in recent seasons, for example - and on Friday he was officially removed as a staff member on the Ineos Grenadiers website.

However, members of the team on the ground at the Tour Down Under denied that this was a particularly big change for Brailsford or the team, and said he will still be involved with the cycling team as part of the rider Ineos Sport structure.

“It’s been the same for the last couple of years. It’s just wording really,” Ben Swift told GCN. “He’s still involved with the team but he’s just got a more overall head role in the team, and that’s how it has been for the last couple of years.”

Suggestions have been made that Brailsford’s title change was related to the highly-publicised move by Jim Ratcliffe to buy a share in Manchester United football club, where Brailsford has been spotted at games regularly for the last few weeks, following on from a stint working closely with OGC Nice.

With more projects to pursue now than just the cycling team for Brailsford, John Allert has taken over as CEO whilst deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth left the team over the winter. Though Brailsford is expected to spend more time on the other teams under the Ineos umbrella going forward, he is still working with the team.

“Dave is now the boss of all Ineos Sport,” Ineos sports director Oli Cookson said.

“He’s still in contact with us, he’s just working across all the sports, so nothing really changes. Like the [Telegraph] article said, he was there in December and he’s in contact with us and all the sports. It’s only a positive thing if we look at the situation that Ineos is doing with all the sports.”

Cookson was largely reluctant to comment too heavily on the day-to-day running of the team going forward or in the past, but reiterated that Brailsford has not completely turned away from Ineos Grenadiers.

“Everything about the team has been said. Of course, Dave’s heavily involved still, as he is with all the sports. Like I say we’re in a fortunate position with the situation, so there’s not really much else to say.

“I think all teams are evolving. I don’t think there’s anything really to say on the Dave B matter, I think it’s quite clear that he’s got this position as the director of Ineos Sport, and he’s still in contact with us and involved in our successes and our structure.”