Josh Tarling: Ineos Grenadiers will be a really strong team in the coming years

With Jumbo-Visma sweeping up all three Grand Tours in 2023, UAE Team Emirates performing incredibly well in the Classics and Bora-Hansgrohe winning a Grand Tour as recently as 2022, plenty has been said to admonish Ineos Grenadiers in turn - who themselves are without a Grand Tour title since the 2021 Giro d'Italia.

However, speaking to GCN and others on the ground at the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium, Ineos Grenadiers' Josh Tarling has affirmed his belief in the British team's current period of transition, whilst tipping his teammates for immediate success in 2024.

Read more: Geraint Thomas: Ineos Grenadiers has been in transition for a couple of years

"I think if you look towards the riders in our team, most of them are young," said Tarling. "To be honest, maybe next year, maybe in a couple of years, it will be a really strong team. I think 'Big Ben' [Turner] will win a Classic next year, to be honest. The same with Magnus [Sheffield]."

With Turner just 24 years old and Sheffield only 21 himself, this may appear a bold claim from Tarling at first, but there is plenty to support his confidence.

Sheffield wasted no time in taking his first semi-Classic win for the British team just months after signing from Rally Cycling, with the then 19-year-old storming to a solo victory at De Brabantse Pijl last year.

For Turner, meanwhile, he may only have one win on the road since turning professional last season, but the Doncaster-born rouleur has been a revelation as a strong teammate throughout the past two cobbled Classics seasons.

With Sheffield, Tarling and Turner improving year-on-year as youngsters, and Ineos Grenadiers' old guard in the process of earning contract extensions - Geraint Thomas' has been announced, Luke Rowe's will not be far behind - there is plenty of room for optimism for the team, said Tarling.

Read more: Geraint Thomas signs two-year contract extension with Ineos Grenadiers

"Next year, we have the best of both worlds," insisted Tarling. "We have the new riders, but then we also have the best older ones like Luke, [Michał] Kwiatkowski, and Ben Swift. It is the perfect ingredient, it just needs a little bit extra [to reach Jumbo-Visma's level]. Everyone is super motivated and wants to get back going again, so fingers crossed."

Last season would have been horrible without Luke Rowe

Only 19 years of age himself, Tarling is coming to the end of his neo-pro season with Ineos Grenadiers, and was incredibly thankful to his older teammates for providing the wisdom and advice that helped him settle into the WorldTour this season.

When GCN asked Tarling about the lessons he learned from his first year with Ineos Grenadiers, his initial answer was short but revealing: "Just everything Luke [Rowe] tells you!"

"He is so good at saving energy, you follow him in the bunch and it is so easy, and then even though you think, ‘surely it can’t just be a Luke thing,’ when you go off his wheel, it is horrible," said Tarling.

"All of the stuff he tells you about the flow [of the peloton], and getting your eye for it, it is invaluable."

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Whenever they have raced together in 2023, Luke Rowe (left) and Josh Tarling (right) have never been far from one another's side

Although Tarling's best results in 2023 have come aboard his time trial bike - with the Welshman winning the British TT Championships, European TT Championships and the recent Chrono des Nations (ahead of Remco Evenepoel) - it are his experiences of getting to know his teammates that have pleased him the most throughout the year.

"Luke is invaluable. Without him, it would have been a horrible season. The same with Geraint Thomas, the same with [Ben] Swift, the same with Kwiatkowski. He was amazing in Amstel because he knows that race, he loves it, there was almost too much information from him! He seemed to have notes on every climb there, but it makes your life so easy because if you race with them, it is simply riding and doing what they say.

"You can just tick a box, but without them, you would have to work it out for yourself and then use your legs. At least now I don’t have to use my head, I can just do what they tell me," admitted Tarling, with more than a wry chuckle.

For 2024, however, Tarling will have to say goodbye to one of his closest friends in the peloton, at least as a teammate. After becoming close friends with the Welshman due to their very similar racing calendar this season, Luke Plapp now appears set to head for pastures new.

Read more: Luke Plapp set to switch from Ineos Grenadiers to Jayco AlUla in 2024

GCN reported last month that the Australian was close to signing a deal with Jayco-AlUla for the coming seasons and whilst Tarling would not be drawn into discussing the move specifically, his answer all but confirmed the news.

"Yeh, it will be a shame if he left the team," acknowledged Tarling. "I really like him, I have done loads of races with him as well so it would be a bit sad actually. If you have a convo with Plapp, it is just really good fun."