Ineos Grenadiers under ‘no real pressure’ at Tour Down Under, says DS

Ineos Grenadiers were facing a lot of criticism and questions around their signings and ambitions at the end of 2023, but have come to the first race of 2024 insisting they are under no pressure.

Racing this week at the Santos Tour Down Under, the British team have no big favourite GC rider or sprinter amongst their number, but are feeling positive about their chances for going for stage wins in the sprint-heavy race.

“We have a mixed bunch, but also a very strong and very motivated group,” sports director Oli Cookson told GCN ahead of stage 1.

Though Cookson admits that no Ineos rider is a GC favourite, that perhaps alleviates the pressure rather than adds to it, with the GC acting as a secondary possibility behind their sprint goals.

“I think the big favourites are [Simon] Yates, [Luke] Plappy, Milan Vader who won China, they’re the real guys for the climbs,” he said. “We’ll see how Jonny [Narváez] goes, but for us there’s no real pressure, we’re here for sprints with Elia [Viviani].”

Whilst Viviani may not usually be included amongst the list of big-name sprinters these days – and he only managed 32nd in the heat-affected opening stage – Cookson was positive about the Italian’s chances, and the team’s faith in him after a promising 2023.

“We’ve got Elia for the sprints, you saw how he finished the end of the season last year, in the CRO Race but also that victory in China [at the Tour of Guangxi] was pretty important. He’s stayed super on it all winter and he’s in good shape, so we’re gonna be looking after him and going for him in the sprints. If you look at the lead-out there, having guys like Filippo [Ganna] and Josh [Tarling], and also [Ben] Swifty’s experience is there to deliver the guys deep into those sprints.”

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When the race does get harder towards its end, Ineos have options in Laurens De Plus and Narváez, and have hopes that the Ecuadorian Down Under Classic winner could put together a good race.

“We’ve got Narváez, he’s in good shape. There’s some incredibly strong climbers in the race, so we’ve got to manage his efforts accordingly. He can climb with the best of the world on the short climbs, and also he’s got the ability to sprint to get bonus [seconds] so we need to be clever with how we use him for GC, and then we’ve got Laurens who will be right up there as well, and Leo [Hayter] as well.”

Filippo Ganna has been talked up as a big name for this race, but was realistic about his chances in Australia with his form still a big unknown, and is not expected to fit into a leadership role straight away this week.

“I’ve done six weeks without the bike, so I think it’s better to just start to ride and race,” Ganna told the media ahead of the race. “The feeling for the track is building, so we try to have good feeling also in the race. At the moment I think Jonny Narváez can do a better race than me, so we’ll see before the end of the week if I can arrive with some good legs, or maybe not.”

Outside of results, Ineos are still looking for other benefits here in Australia, with various riders from their Classics, sprinting and Grand Tour contingents all coming together for some early-season racing and fine-tuning.

“I think it’s completely bespoke for the rider,” Cookson said about the impact of early racing. “If you look at the way that teams are now, many teams are doing altitude in January, so for us it works for the guys doing the Classics, and it works for the guys building towards the Giro.”