Sir Dave Brailsford is back in charge of Netcompany-Ineos, after CEO John Allert left the team.

According to reporting in The Athletic, Allert left the team ahead of the Giro d'Italia, weeks after the WorldTour squad had revealed new backing from Danish IT business Netcompany. The move has not been officially announced by Netcompany-Ineos, but has been confirmed. Allert's exit has been reported to be amicable.

The Australian joined the team in 2021, and was promoted to CEO in 2023 as part of a management reshuffle which also brought Dr Scott Drawer into the team as performance director.

At the launch of Netcompany-Ineos, Sir Dave Brailsford spoke as team principal, having been back on board. His role now is thought to be team principal and director of sport for Ineos, having returned to cycling. Notably, Allert was at the event but did not speak. Brailsford is still not listed on the team's website.

In the last few years, Ineos have had their worst season ever, in 2024, when the team won just 14 times. They have bounced back from that low, winning stages at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España last year, before impressing this season, with 20 victories to date. At the Giro, Thymen Arensman finished fourth overall, his highest finish at a Grand Tour.

Brailsford returns to the team he created in 2010 as Team Sky, who went on to win seven Tours de France between 2012 and 2019. He stepped back from his team principal role to head up a bigger role at Ineos Sport, overseeing all the projects owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, including Manchester United FC.

He returns to head up an Ineos team who has Geraint Thomas as director of racing, and Drawer as performance director, among their staff.

At the announcement of Netcompany-Ineos, Brailsford said: "This is one of the most significant partnerships in cycling – a real vote of confidence not only in our team, but in the sport itself. It’s a major moment for us and marks the beginning of a new chapter."

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Another year, same recurring question. Only this time it feels urgent to the point of being potentially fatal: can Ineos Grenadiers, in a more delicate position than ever before in their 16-year history, survive another bad showing at the Tour de France?

The story is by now familiar to everyone: across eight years, Ineos Grenadiers – previously Team Sky – won seven yellow jerseys with four different riders, taking 15 stages along the way. Their Grand Tour dominance was cemented further with overall victories at the Vuelta a España and the Giro d’Italia. Yet, while they’ve twice finished third in the following five editions of the Tour, they haven’t seriously challenged for the top spot since Egan Bernal’s win in 2019. There is no shame in that, you might argue, given that no one aside from Primož Roglič (in 2020) has given Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard a serious run for their money over that period – and that only Remco Evenepoel, if anyone, looks capable of doing so in forthcoming years. But Ineos are not just any team.

Britain’s only WorldTour outfit are the second richest cycling team in the world, bankrolled to the tune of more than €50m by one of Britain’s richest men, Jim Ratcliffe, and their core objective is to win Grand Tours – principally the Tour de France. Slight problem, then, when the only other three-week races they’ve won this decade were the 2020 and 2021 Giro d’Italia. That’s a four-year barren spell, with no glory from 12 Grand Tours.

The team’s main GC rider for almost a decade, Geraint Thomas, is retiring at the end of the season; their brightest young hope Carlos Rodríguez is currently off the pace – at the time of writing, he is already 1.20 astray after just two stages; and after pursuing Evenepoel for several years, he now appears destined for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.

This year's race got off to a bad start when the team’s main prospect for TT stage wins, Filippo Ganna, crashed heavily and subsequently abandoned. Previously they’d have looked to Tom Pidcock for a stage win, but he left in a rage last winter.

Yes, Ineos have raced more positively, aggressively and entertainingly this season – just as they promised they would – and they’ve already passed last season’s paltry win tally of 14 (albeit eight of their 19 victories in 2025 have been national championship titles) but the stark reality is they’ve no one capable of winning a Grand Tour any time soon. In the past, Ineos were willing to solve problems with money, but Ratcliffe has closed off the possibility of opening the cash taps any wider.

Total Energies was unveiled as a secondary sponsor just before the Tour, with a new jersey drawing social media scorn for its apparently hasty logo integration. Also announced shortly before the start was the return of Dave Brailsford into team management. The longer the team go without Grand Tour wins, the bleaker their outlook appears to be, even with Brailsford – the man who engineered so much success – back in the hotseat. Can Britain’s super-squad afford to plod through another lap of France? And what effect might that have on both their own long-term future and that of British cycling?

“I like to think that from 2010 we’ve earned the right to be called a super-team, [but] it’s a super-team that needs to win more,” the team’s CEO John Allert admitted on the eve of the race.

Trouble behind the scenes

It’s not just that Ineos have failed to match the dominance of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike in recent years; behind-the-scenes unrest has also painted the picture of a team, if not in meltdown, then certainly struggling to maintain cohesion. Issues with management have been the principal bugbear. Former chief Brailsford began moving away from cycling in 2021 to focus on Ineos’s wider sporting interests – namely Manchester United.

His longtime ally Rod Ellingworth took over, but not for long, departing after two seasons. Sources told CW that Ellingworth became frustrated by the many layers of approval required to make decisions – including from Ratcliffe himself, who insists on having the final say on all transfers. One source complained that “Ineos men sleep too much,” referring to the constant delays. Ellingworth was replaced by Australian John Allert, with Scott Drawer returning as performance manager. Geraint Thomas, in his characteristically candid style, described the set-up as a “coalition government” during last year’s Tour – hinting at strained internal politics.

Through multiple reports, leaks and rumours, a pattern has emerged of riders growing unhappy with the apparently inflexible, restrictive nature of the Ineos regime. Tom Pidcock, who has seemed reenergised since his move to Q365, said earlier this year that “things were just not going how it was originally envisaged at Ineos, how I imagined it.” He added: “I signed my contract with different people who run the team now and that did create some difficulties.” He has since added that he wasn’t happy at any point last season. Fellow Brit and one-time big race hope Ethan Hayter expressed similar sentiments when he moved to Soudal Quick-Step at the end of last season. “When you run a cycling team like a business, the riders and staff lose their passion,” he said. “That was the case at Ineos in recent years – racing felt more and more like a job.”

Recently, Ineos have begun to address the criticism. Brailsford will be with the team for at least some of year’s Tour as he prepares to return as full-time leader. “We want to win the Tour, but there’s no point just saying [that]. You’ve got to do something about it. That’s why it’s great to welcome Dave back into the fold,” said Zak Dempster, the team’s lead DS at the Tour. “Dave loves a performance challenge and this is the biggest... [He] and everyone at Ineos all want to win the Tour, but we’ve got to do more than we’re doing to get better than the people that are dominating at the moment.”

Thomas is also primed for a management position, which in Pidcock’s view at least, would be a huge step forward. “G says things how they are – he won’t beat around the bush,” the 25-year-old told CW recently. “That’s what they need: someone straight-talking – it’s what they miss at the top. It’s more the political stuff up above – people just need to be told things straight.”

The fight for extra funding

Under what guise the team will exist next season, however, is currently unknown. Ratcliffe has been pulling back from a number of his sporting investments recently, but it is understood that he remains committed to funding the cycling team – even if he rarely attends races or training camps. In the longer-term, though, he wants financial support, and it appears to be on the way.

The planned co-title-sponsor deal with TotalEnergies – the petrochemical company having multiple existing business links with Ineos – is still being worked through, though the new jersey suggests the financial contribution is already significant. Publicly at least, Ineos insist that they remain in the market for extra funds. “We’ve got all sorts of discussions going on, and we haven’t finished those discussions,” Allert said, hinting at more money becoming available to the team.

What the team would do with such a cash injection is clear: try to sign a latent GC superstar – though it is unclear who that would be, with Evenepoel out of the equation. For now, the search continues – and the wait has to go on.

What can they salvage?

In the here and now, what does success constitute for Ineos at this year’s Tour? A podium on GC, or several stage wins? “Like most teams, we exist for the Tour de France,” said Dempster. “It’s the biggest race of the year, and the feeling of winning a stage and the momentum through the race, that’s what we do it for. Winning stages is going to be really important, but I think we need to be realistic on GC, and brave and bold and move the race where we can, and hopefully take time in creative ways.” He seemed to be managing expectations. “It’s no secret that [head-to-head] there are guys who are stronger than us. That’s the reality, but at the same time, if we’re smart and bold, nothing is out of the question on GC.”

The team’s dreams of Tour GC success for Thomas, Rodríguez or Thymen Arensman are already fading, with Connor Swift and Axel Laurence the only other two with an outside chance of taking a stage win. “Carlos is our main man and we’ll see what he can do and how far he can hang in there,” Thomas said just as the race got underway. “The last couple of years have been more about [targeting] stages, but that’s exciting – we can go at it a bit more, but not go too crazy for the sake of it.”

Recently-crowned British champion Sam Watson was drafted into the team at the last minute, an unexpected late call-up which underlines the team’s lack of a guaranteed line-up; in their peak years, their eight-man squad could have been predicted months in advance, but that’s no longer the case for a team in a state of flux.

The importance of a successful Tour de France cannot be overstated for any team. CW has seen a leaked document from a rival WorldTour team that outlines just how much of an outsized role the Tour has on media exposure and sponsorship awareness. The independent report, commissioned by said team, highlights how the Tour receives over three times more media coverage than the Giro d’Italia, and over four times more than the Vuelta a España. Other races barely register interest.

Sponsors get 2.5 times more exposure from the Tour than the Giro and Vuelta, and exposure from the biggest one-day Monuments, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, is minuscule by comparison. In other words: far more eyes are focused on the sport in July than at any other time, and failure to produce victories during the 21 stages can harm a team’s search for additional funding, as well as the obvious impact it has on how prospective riders view joining said team.

The longer-term outlook

The other question to ask about Ineos is how its demise affects British cycling. The domestic racing scene has been decimated in recent years, and Ineos are the only British men’s UCI-registered team. It’s difficult to give a definitive answer as to how important the team’s success and continued presence in the peloton are to the sport in the UK, but it is certain that the success of Team Sky inspired the likes of Pidcock, Hayter and new national champion Sam Watson.

Part of the team’s initial focus upon launch in 2010 was to act as a pathway for British talent, and over the course of their first decade around a third of riders were British. That number has sharply dropped to six in 2025 – the lowest ever – while the team has missed out on British talent like Matthew Brennan, Oscar Onley and Max Poole. “One of the core parts of the team’s original identity was that it would be a home for British riders, but that seems to have gone,” one source bemoaned.

It is not all doom and gloom, of course. Ineos still possess several big race winners, and in Ganna and Josh Tarling they have arguably two of the best time triallists in the world; possible future signing Evenepoel is the other one. What’s more, the team isn’t hiding behind their issues: they know they have to step up. “Where once we were at the top of the heap, we’re not anymore,” admitted Allert. “It’s not just about money – it’s also about competence, strategy, resources and hard work.” Brailsford, going by his track record, should address all four of those points. That’s the hope, anyway.

It’s worth adding too that the team has survived all the malpractice allegations of the late 2010s – their doctor Richard Freeman being struck off; the infamous jiffy bag accusations; and more – without their branding and appeal being significantly harmed, suggesting they can weather any storm. Even one as dark as this.

Thomas in a management role guiding a bright new GC protégé is an enticing prospect, but as things stand the British team remain a long way from their glory days. What, if anything, can they do to turn things around?

The Ineos drought in numbers

4: Riders from Team Sky/Ineos Grenadiers won the Tour de France from 2012 to 2019.

7: Tour stage wins by Chris Froome between 2012 and 2016 – the most of any rider from the team.

5: British Tour stage winners from Sky/Ineos.

0: Number of GC wins by Ineos from the 12 Grand Tours leading up to this year’s Tour.

5: Number of Tours de France, out of the previous 15, at which Sky/Ineos have not won a stage.

7 minutes: The time gap that both Richard Carapaz (third in 2021) and Geraint Thomas (third in 2022) were adrift from the winner.

3: GC victories from 28 ‘Big Seven’ one-week stage races since 2022.

6: British riders on the team in 2025 – the fewest ever.

€50m: Reported amount Jim Ratcliffe invests into Ineos Grenadiers annually.

Sir Dave Brailsford has been "welcomed back with open arms" to Ineos Grenadiers, as the team he was once principal of heads to the Tour de France aiming to recreate former glories.

The 61-year-old stepped back from Ineos Grenadiers at the beginning of 2024 for a bigger role as head of sport at Ineos Sport, later going on to be involved in the running of Manchester United FC. However, it was reported last month that Brailsford was leaving United, and now it is clear that he has returned to a key position at the cycling team.

"Dave's definitely coming to the Tour," Ineos Grenadiers CEO John Allert said in the team's pre-race press conference on Wednesday evening. "He's getting stuck right in. He loves it. I was talking to him earlier today, and he was like a kid in a sweet shop talking about climbs, getting back to the mountains, for him that's the battlefield that he knows and loves.

"We've welcomed him back into the team with open arms," he continued. "He's a kind of not so secret weapon, I guess, for us to use, and we plan on using him to the to the fullest. It's great to have him back.

"He'll be there whenever we we need him, when he feels that he can be adding the most value, and I know that his travel plans are basically to be available for the whole thing."

Allert clarified that Brailsford's return was not the reason for the team's late announcement of their Tour squad, that it was instead because of last-minute decisions regarding illness and injury. Ben Swift was to be a part of the line-up before illness changed these plans; British champion Sam Watson may have been the beneficiary of this.

"I think we had quite some issues last, last couple of weeks with injuries and last minute sicknesses and things," Ineos Grenadiers DS Zak Dempster said. "So in the end, we were still kind of waiting for the the fitness test to come. It was a process to get here, and it's never easy these selections for the guys that are on the long list. But I think we can be really confident with this eight."

Dempster said that Ineos' aim was stage wins and a "realistic" approach to general classification through Carlos Rodríguez, who has finished in the top 10 for the last two Tours de France.

"Winning stages is going to be really important, I think we need to be realistic on general classification, but I think we need to be brave and bold and move the race where we can," he said. "Hopefully take time in creative ways. It's no secret that face to face there's guys that are stronger than us. That's the reality, but at the same time, if we're smart and bold, nothing is out of the question on GC."

"We want to win the Tour, but there's no point just saying we want to win the Tour, you've got to do something about it," Allert added. "That's why, in part, it's great to welcome Dave back into the fold. Dave loves a performance challenge and this is the biggest one there is. Dave and everyone at Ineos, we all to win the Tour, but we've got to more than we're doing to get better than the people that are dominating at the moment. We're getting stuck in, and that's our mission."

Ineos Grenadiers enter this Tour with a new secondary sponsor in TotalEnergies, with the petrochemical giant taking up space on their jersey; Allert said that this was part of the team's future.

"Total as a partner for Ineos, industrially and and in a sporting sense, is hugely helpful." he said. "But, bringing on partners like Adidas is helpful, bringing on other partners. We've got all sorts of discussions still going. We haven't finished with those discussions. It's a journey.

"It's a fantastic moment I think, to realise that we've got something there that's attracting investment, attracting interest, attracting interesting riders for next year and beyond. But the journey continues."

Sir Dave Brailsford is reportedly to step back from his leadership position at the beleaguered Manchester United and return to his previous role as director of sport for the wider Ineos group, according to The Times. The move will bring him closer to the operations of Ineos Grenadiers, just 18 months after he stepped away from the cycling team.

The football club's disappointing season has forced minority share owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s hand as part of yet another reshuffle at Old Trafford. The billionaire owner of Ineos has rung the changes since coming on board, instigating regular staffing cuts, cancelling Christmas parties and axing free lunches for staff members in an attempt to cut costs and rediscover former glory. It appears the tycoon has now deemed the marginal gains pioneer surplus to requirements at the football club and better suited elsewhere amongst his wider project.

Does this mean Brailsford will return to working more closely with Ineos Grenadiers? With the Ineos sport portfolio shrinking, it seems possible that the 61-year-old could focus most of his attention on the cycling team, as it looks to re-establish itself at the upper echelons of the sport following a poor 2024 campaign.

While the team has successfully moved on from a tumultuous year and returned to consistent winning form, the underlying narrative for some time has been that the squad lacks clarity in its leadership structure. The uncertainty regarding leadership is still thought to be an issue within the team, with support expressed for Geraint Thomas moving into a management role following his retirement in September.

Thomas told The Guardian at last summer’s Tour de France that Brailsford’s previous role leading Team Sky was very different to Ineos’s structure: “Before, it was a lot more ­straightforward with Dave at the top. There was clarity with everything. There was a simple process, whereas now it’s got a lot more complicated.”

“It’s like a coalition government,” he said in an assessment of the structure last year, led by CEO John Allert. “You need a majority. Even if you didn’t agree with stuff [before] at least there was a clear ‘boom, boom, boom’ – that’s it, move on – rather than this grey area.”

If Thomas’ words last July are anything to go by, Brailsford returning to the fold could provide a figurehead again for the cycling team, someone to front up and be the face of the squad, as Richard Plugge is for Visma-Lease a Bike, or Ralph Denk for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. It’s unlikely the management structure will change again so soon, especially as it's favoured by Ratcliffe and Ineos, but with Thomas and Brailsford teaming up, there might be a new direction.

Back to the future

To some, Brailsford coming back could be seen as a negative, a step back when the team is, on paper, moving forward once more. However, throughout his tenure leading the cycling team, Brailsford achieved consistent results - seven Tour de France wins in eight years, with four different riders is a record that speaks for itself.

Allowing him to extend his influence into cycling once more could be the difference between a flash in the pan year of good results, and long term, sustainable success once more. There is the small matter of Ineos Grenadiers looking for a second sponsor, too, but keep your eyes on where Brailsford goes.

Ineos Grenadiers new CEO, John Allert, has outlined the team’s goals for 2024 which includes aiming to recapture the Grand Tour dominance of old which underlined their former identity as Team Sky.

Allert was promoted to chief executive officer in December last year and will take control of the team’s operations on a day to day basis moving forward. He will report directly to Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc after Brailsford previously moved into the role of Head of Sport, overseeing all of the projects within the wider Ineos Sport group 

The team’s new CEO explained that the Grenadiers have plenty of work to do in order to move back to the top of cycling’s pyramid of elite teams. Allert said that the Tour de France remains a major goal for the squad as he discussed the team’s ambitions moving forward into the new year.  

“For me, this is a very exciting period,” Allert told the press, including Cycling Weekly. “I think it’s fair to say that we’re the hunter, not the hunted and that puts a slightly different complexion of things. We’ve clearly transitioned from one leadership to a new leadership, and we’ve got an exciting rider group and we’ve made a good start to the season. I feel a lot of optimism within the team, and in the sport.”

During the off-season Rod Ellingworth resigned as deputy team principal and Allert was later appointed CEO. Dr Scott Drawer came on board as performance director and Steve Cummings became head of racing. 

Allert talked the media through the team’s new hierarchy and was clear that Brailsford will still be involved with the cycling project moving forward, despite recently stepping back from day to day involvement with the team. 

Brailsford will now be heavily involved at Manchester United after Sir Jim Ratcliffe recently added the football club to the wider Ineos Sport portfolio. 

Allert said: “Dave is the godfather of the team and he’s the founder of the team. It’s a privilege that he’s still accessible to the team. He clearly has responsibilities across several sports, and not just cycling.

“Although Dave has greater bandwidth than anyone I’ve ever worked with, his first and primary focus is on a variety of sports teams. Clearly, he has a passion and proven track record for cycling, so don’t ever be surprised to see him come on race but he won’t be at races to mark our homework. He’ll be coming on race to help the team, as he does all the teams."

Ineos have let several big name riders move on during the off season including Tao Geoghegan Hart who signed for Lidl-Trek. Allert explained that he has huge faith in the “exciting” crop of talent that the team still has on board including time trial sensation Josh Tarling. 

"I think all of the riders who left our team, whether those offers were financially attractive or were opportunities that they felt they wanted or needed, we wish them well," Allert said.   

"Rider turnover happens every year and some of those riders were riders that brought the team great success and we thank them for that and hope they succeed wherever they go."

"I think everybody can see that at the moment there are some pretty outstanding GC riders. I believe that we have a number of outstanding GC riders too – both experienced, proven GC riders. We have two winners in the team. We also have a phenomenal next generation of riders," he added.  

"Our objectives are to get as close to the top of the podium in the Tour and any Grand Tour or in any race for that matter. Whether or not that's this year or next year remains to be seen. We know the competition is stiff.

"I think sometimes people mistakenly think that we've had a diffusion of focus. But that’s always been the DNA of the team. That continued from our previous owners into the Ineos ownership and the ambition is the same. 

"With that comes an identity that I think certainly to those inside the team is crystal clear. And that is why we're a GC team, first and foremost and want to be on the top step of the podium. That's it."

Allert backed the team’s new head of performance, Dr Drawer, to succeed and explained that he feels he will be instrumental in helping the team get back on level pegging with the likes of Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Emirates across all of cycling’s Grand Tours. 

He said: "Our mission is clearly more than to catch up to those teams that have succeeded over the last couple of years, it's to find ways of overtaking them.

"They've found ways of not just echoing what we did but innovating themselves. That's how they've got themselves to the position they're in. That's part of the joy of elite sport, that each generation finds ways to out-perform and out-innovate the one that precedes it. 

"I think it's no coincidence that the person responsible for our sporting performance [Dr Scott Drawer] is a scientist. He's an innovator, he's a proven disrupter. He embraces technology, data and science. 

"I don't think that alone will provide us with the answer but certainly, we're going to leave no stone unturned in terms of trying to innovate our competition."

Sir Dave Brailsford has stepped back from being directly involved in Ineos Grenadiers, with the 59-year-old giving up his title of team principal.

Brailsford will still have some say in the running of the cycling team in his role as Ineos' director of sport, but has stepped back from the Grenadiers while he his set to take on more responsibility at Manchester United.

The Telegraph published the news on Saturday, but it does not come as a particular surprise, with Ineos Grenadiers restructuring their whole operation in the off-season. In December, they announced a new chief executive officer (CEO), performance director and head of racing.

The owner of Ineos, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, recently acquired 29% of Manchester United, one of the biggest football teams in the world, and Brailsford has joined him there. He is thought to be joining the board.

According to the Telegraph, Brailsford told Ineos riders and staff at their training camp in Mallorca, and is no longer listed on the Ineos Grenadiers website.

He was central to Team Sky - then Ineos - from the squad's formation in 2010, when he was team principal. In his time leading the outfit, he oversaw victories at seven Tours de France, two Vueltas a España, and three Giri d'Italia, through Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, and Tao Geoghegan Hart. His leadership was seen as central to British Cycling and then Team Sky/Ineos' rise to be the best in the world.

Brailsford's departure is just the latest shakeup at the British cycling team, with deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth resigning in November. In December, it was announced that John Allert, who was previously the team's managing director, will become CEO, responsible for the day-to-day running of the squad. He will be be assisted by Dr Scott Drawer, who joined Ineos as performance director, and Steve Cummings, who became director of racing.

The new structure reports to Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc at the Ineos Sport group. The umbrella organisation includes Sir Jim Ratcliffe's investments in New Zealand's rugby union team, Mercedes F1, OGC Nice, and the Ineos Britannia sailing team, as well as Manchester United.

Brailsford's tenure was successful but not without controversy, with his "marginal gains" approach subject to much scrutiny. In 2018, a parliamentary select committee said that Team Sky crossed "an ethical line” with their employment of therapeutic use exemptions.

Richard Freeman, the team's former doctor, was struck off the British medical register for having a banned testosterone gel delivered to the National Cycling Centre in 2011. Freeman later received a four-year doping ban for his role in the incident. Brailsford always denied involvement.

Neither Ineos or Brailsford have made a statement on the move, but it is not a surprise, with the fresh organisation in place.

The last time the cycling world spotted Dave Brailsford was all the way back in the spring when Dylan van Baarle won Paris-Roubaix for Ineos Grenadiers.

Since then we've not seen Brailsford. He wasn't even at the Tour de France.

His absence and silence on all things cycling, however, can be easily explained. 

He’s currently living in a caravan at the training ground of the French football team OGC Nice, where he has been director of sport since December 2021, as part of his wider role with the Ineos group. It was initially a temporary role but there’s talk of it becoming permanent.

And, yes, we did say caravan. Or, as L’Equipe describe his temporary home, a “luxury camper” parked at an “administrative personnel car park”.

Brailsford's football experiment, however, is not going very well. In fact, it's going pretty terribly, not helped by the club languishing in the bottom half of Ligue 1.

“I think Brailsford is making a lot of mistakes at Nice that is very much counterproductive to what the project is and what it should be,” explained French football journalist Julien Laurens on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. “He reminds me a little bit of Sir Clive Woodward when England won the Rugby World Cup. He thought he could go into any sport, including football, and be successful and it just doesn’t happen like that.”

The problems are numerous, many of them run deep, and most Brailsford inherited. But he’s exacerbated or created new ones, including what many describe as a poor summer transfer window in which the club opted for an English-centric buying spree that has so far not bore fruit.

“That was silly recruitment,” Laurens went on. “You have to explain to me what the logic behind it was, what the idea was and where they are going because it doesn’t really make much sense. Maybe you can make sense of it when you know Dave Brailsford is there. He clearly thinks he can do a good job in football.”

All the issues help to explain why since the summer Brailsford has been keeping away from bike races and has been instead sleeping at Nice's training ground. Luke Entwistle, a journalist specialising in French football and living in Nice, explains that Brailsford has opted for the living situation because “football is not his background, not his sport, as much as he might be a fan, so he wants to get across that he’s there, front and centre, every day.”

Brailsford remains team principal of Ineos Grenadiers and despite his no-show at the Tour he was in constant contact with the team. He's also not taken his eye off cycling, most recently trying to figure out a way to bring Vuelta a España winner and world champion Remco Evenepoel to the team. But the day-to-day management of the British outfit is now overseen by his deputy Rod Ellingworth, while Brailsford concentrates more on the footballing project that began as a sideline role but has morphed into his priority.

What Brailsford’s exact role entails at Nice is unknown, but it is believed that he was brought in by Ineos’ founder Jim Ratcliffe principally to restructure the club, something Brailsford has accelerated in the past few months. 

But financial investment from Ineos has not been as beneficial as Ratcliffe promised when he bought the club three years ago, and the club’s fanbase is growing angry.

“The issues and perceptions of Brailsford are potentially not because of the role he has, but rather because he is the face of the Ineos regime,” Entwistle tells Cycling Weekly, “and therefore any shortcomings are being directed towards Brailsford. 

“I don’t get the impression he’s very disliked, but he’s basically front of house at a massive football club in the region and for that reason he absorbs the criticism.

“Brailsford is someone who Ratcliffe considers as his right hand man, a big piece of the Ineos project that he wants in safe hands. But the fans are disappointed in how Ratcliffe’s regime is going and investment hasn’t been as momentous as expected.”

Since being appointed to the role, Brailsford has embarked on a root-and-branch review of the club, determined to fix its ailments and to develop every department. 

The football equivalent of his marginal gains approach that revolutionised cycling, then? “That’s a fair comparison,” Entwistle says. “There’s a massive drive in France towards physical and general fitness and creating more cohesive sporting projects. 

“The idea of the project is to bring about elite athleticism and that’s what Brailsford is doing. There’s stuff on the club’s social media channels welcoming different sports to the club, as well as psychologists and fitness experts. That’s all down to Brailsford.

“There’s a lot of focus paid to technical and sporting directors in football now and that’s also what Brailsford has been trying to address. Some things may seem questionable, and some of his more recent decisions won’t be paying off for months or years to come.”

Brailsford’s fluency in French has “dissolved him of maybe some criticism”, Entwistle thinks, but the Welshman hasn’t been a familiar figure in the football press, despite effectively running one of France’s biggest clubs.

Just like his shyness in front of the cycling media ever since the jiffy bag scandal broke in 2016, Brailsford’s done very few interviews since being at Nice, annoying sections of the local press who believe he should front up to the perceived errors the club are making.

“He’s playing a backseat role [in front of the media],” Entwistle says. “He does the occasional club media but it’s whenever Ineos want to get something good out there about their multisport project or some sporting innovation at the club.”

The main bone of contention amongst Nice fans is reserved for Ratcliffe, though, as opposed to Brailsford. Britain’s wealthiest man said that he wanted the club to become a seasoned European outfit within five years of his 2019 takeover, but questions have been raised about his long-term commitment to the club.

In the spring he launched an 11th hour bid to buy Chelsea and he has also speculated that he would be interested in buying Manchester United. Should he own another football club playing in one of the three European football competitions, Nice would not be eligible in the same tournaments, although Ratcliffe sought to calm tensions by suggesting that Nice would find a way around the rules. He didn’t, however, specify how.

“People are asking what Ratcliffe’s real ambition is,” Entwistle says. “They thought Nice were the jewel in the crown of the multisport project, but how devoted is he really to Nice? Does he really have grand plans? 

Brailsford’s immediate worries revolve around the club’s first-team manager, Lucien Favre, who is under pressure to be sacked. Ratcliffe, meanwhile, is worrying the fans - with his appointment of Brailsford and his public flirtation with other football clubs.

The cycling arm of the Ineos project isn’t the winningest right now, and neither is the footballing arm. “Only Ratcliffe knows what his long term plan is with Ineos and Nice,” Entwistle says. “There are a lot of well-founded and fair doubts from fans.”

Sir Dave Brailsford has been made head of sport at Ineos, with the Ineos Grenadiers' team principal maintaining his existing role and also now overseeing all of the company's operations in sports beyond cycling.

Brailsford has been involved in the management of the British cycling team since its inception, and will continued to be involved in Ineos Grenadiers alongside his new rule.

Ineos, a petrochemical company, is involved in multiple sports as well as cycling. It sponsors OGC Nice, the Mercedes AMG Formula 1 team, the New Zealand rugby union team and the Ineos Britannia sailing organisation.

>>> Vincenzo Nibali and Migel Angel López to ride Giro-Tour double

A statement from Ineos said that it was looking to "develop a performance agenda across all sports", and that Brailsford woud work with each of the teams to develop said agenda.

He said: "For me there is no more exciting place to be in global sport right now than at Ineos given the extraordinary range of talents across the different teams. 

"I am very pleased to have this new opportunity to work together with the other team leaders to look at how we can take advantage of these collective talents and develop a wider performance framework in partnership."

Brailsford continued: "It goes without saying I am really looking forward to learning more from each of them and their teams and looking at how to put their ideas into wider practice across the INEOS sport family."

The job switch was originally reported by Italian website Tuttobiciweb back in September, with Ineos Grenadiers describing the report as "speculation".

He will be continuing to work with the cycling team that he has been with since 2010. "I will continue to lead INEOS Grenadiers with Rod Ellingworth as my deputy. We are already deep into the planning for 2022 and are committed to going all in for next season."

The 57-year-old has undergone treatment for a number of health problems, including prostate cancer and heart surgery, and he told The Guardian last year he may have to step away from his current role if he has any further health issues. 

Sir Dave Brailsford has responded to the rumours that Egan Bernal wants to leave Ineos Grenadiers. 

The cycling rumour mill has been abuzz ever since reports emerged suggesting that multiple Grand Tour winner Bernal is unhappy at the British WorldTour squad.

Colombian superstar Bernal is currently three years into an unusually long five-year contract with Ineos, as the team has banked on the future success of the 24-year-old, already the winner of the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. 

Recent reports from Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, based on quotes from Italian journalist Beppe Conti, suggested that Bernal was unhappy at Ineos and that he had a “blank” relationship with team-mates.

The article said Bernal was expected to see out his current contract, which runs until the end of 2023, before seeking a new deal with Israel Start-Up Nation.

In a video interview with Colombian journalist Juan Sebastian, Ineos Grenadiers team principal Brailsford has responded to the rumours, saying: “Egan has still got two years on his contract. We’re in the third year of a five-year contract with Egan.

"We’re very very proud of Egan. He’s a brilliant rider, we’ve always had a good relationship with Colombian riders. He’s won the Tour de France for us, he proved how fantastic he is with the way he won the Giro. 

“He’s one of the key riders in the team now and going forward. Like always we look to the future and we’d like him very much to be part of our future.” 

Brailsford was speaking from Leuven during the World Championships in Flanders, at an event hosted by Ineos Grenadiers kit sponsor for 2022 Bioracer. 

Bernal signed with Ineos, formerly Team Sky, for the 2018 season, helping the team win the Tour de France with Geraint Thomas that year, before he went on to win the race himself in 2019. 

After struggling with back problems through the 2020 season, Bernal returned to dominant form during the 2021 Giro d’Italia, comfortably winning his second three-week race. 

He is expected to return to the Tour next year to try and repeat his past success. 

Sir Dave Brailsford could be leaving his role at Ineos Grenadiers, with Rod Ellingworth taking over as team manager, according to a report. 

Italian media has reported that longstanding team principal Brailsford is set to depart from his role at the British UCI WorldTeam to take on a more senior role with lead sponsor Ineos. 

The move would free up the top position at Ineos Grenadiers, with Rod Ellingworth the most likely candidate for promotion to team principal. 

According to the report from Italian cycling website Tuttobiciweb, Brailsford would take the step up a wider leadership role in the sporting department of Ineos.

British chemical company Ineos, run by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has been building an enormous sporting empire, with stake in cycling, Formula One, sailing and football.

Ineos stepped into the cycling world in 2019, taking over as the lead sponsors of Team Sky, replacing the team’s long term sponsor, British broadcaster Sky. 

Brailsford is a former performance director at British Cycling and then became a founding member of the first British WorldTour cycling team, along with Ellingworth.  

The 57-year-old has recently undergone treatment for a number of health problems, including prostate cancer and heart surgery, and has publicly said he may have to step away from his current role if he has any further health issues. 

Rod Ellingworth, a former British Cycling coach who helped establish Team Sky, recently returned to a senior role with Ineos Grenadiers after he spent one season as the team principal of Bahrain-McLaren. 

>>> Dan Bigham is definitely NOT the bad boy of British Cycling

Ellingworth returned to Ineos at the start of 2021 as the director of racing, where is is working to develop the next generation of talent within the team, including Tom Pidcock, Carlos Rodríguez, Ethan Hayter, and new signings Magnus Sheffield and Lucas Plapp. 

Cycling Weekly has approached Ineos Grenadiers for comment. 

Sir Dave Brailsford said Ineos Grenadiers planned to attack from the first gravel sector for Egan Bernal on stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia. 

Team principal Brailsford said the aggressive style of racing Ineos showed on the unpaved roads is part of the new philosophy for the team, as Bernal hoped to extend his lead in the maglia rosa battle  

Speaking after the finish, Brailsford said: “[Bernal] is showing why everyone got so excited about him a couple of years ago.

“He had a little bit of a difficult time after that, but he’s come back and he’s shown when you’ve got that much class as a rider, you have your ups and downs, but you never lose it

“He’s worked really hard and sacrificed a lot over the last 12 months.

“He deserves this.” 

But Brailsford said Bernal’s success in Italy, where he leads overall by 45 seconds over Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), is built on the team’s willingness to race hard. 

Ineos took on the race on the first gravel sector, splitting the peloton and distancing their nearest rival Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step). 

Filippo Ganna pushed hard on the unpaved roads to try and increase the gap to their rivals, but the race came back together on the tarmac. 

Then into the closing stages Bernal was able to follow an attack from Vlasov and then countered to extend his advantage even further. 

Meanwhile Evenepoel struggled after a relentless day of racing and was dropped from the group of favourites, losing two minutes on GC by the finish. 

Brailsford said: “The goal was Filippo goes into the first section first and just puts the hammer down. He did it beautifully. The rest of the guys built the performance on top of that step by step. Egan finished it off capably.

“We’ve changed our philosophy a little bit and rather than defensively we try to ride off the front. We’ve got the guys to do it and they’re up for it, they enjoy it, they enjoy bike racing.

“We give them a bit of freedom and a bit of opportunity and they’ve got the joy of racing.

“We’re being more aggressive and it’s enjoyable. We’re having fun. We’re racing much more openly now and we’re seeing the benefits from it.”

>>> Bernal tears up the GC, while Evenepoel dropped after brutal day - don't miss these moments 

Despite their new approach, Ineos continue to dominate in stage races, having won the Giro’s opening TT with Filippo Ganna, while Bernal won his first Grand Tour stage and moved into the race lead last weekend.  

Speaking after the finish of stage 11, Bernal said: “Today was a really hard day and with the gravel we expected some big gaps. 

“There were a lot of GC riders that lost some time so I’m happy to arrive in the front and we need to stay focused in the next days.”  

The owner of Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said he “fully supports” team principal Dave Brailsford after the Richard Freeman scandal.

Former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Freeman has been struck off by a medical tribunal, after he ordered banned testosterone to be delivered to the British Cycling headquarters in 2011. 

Sir Dave Brailsford, former performance director at British Cycling and now team principal at Ineos Grenadiers, has yet to respond publicly to the Freeman decision, but the team has said they do not believe there was any evidence to suggest the testosterone was given to an athlete to enhance their performance.

Ratcliffe, the owner of petrochemical company Ineos, has now publicly backed Brailsford in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper. 

The billionaire businessman, the richest man in Britain, said: “[Brailsford] has my full support. Unless something came up that I was shocked by, he will continue to have my full support.”

On the Freeman scandal, Ratcliffe added: “This happened what, 10 years ago?”

“My principal concern is where we are now and how we conduct ourselves now.” 

Earlier this month, Freeman was found guilty on 21 of 22 charges relating to a delivery of banned substance testosterone, which Freeman ordered “knowing or believing” it was to be given to a rider to dope.

The tribunal then permanently struck Freeman off the medical register.  

Freeman’s Medical Practitioners Tribunal hearing, held in Manchester, centred around allegations Freeman ordered 30 testosterone sachets, which were delivered to British Cycling headquarters in Manchester in 2011, and then lied to cover up the order.   

He had admitted 18 of the charges against him, but denied that the substance was ordered for an athlete to dope, instead claiming he was “bullied” into ordering the testosterone by Shane Sutton to treat Sutton’s erectile dysfunction – Sutton denied this. 

But the tribunal found that Freeman had ordered the testosterone for an athlete and that his “fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct.” 

Freeman has also been charged by UK Anti-Doping with two violations of anti-doping rules – possession of a banned substance and tampering or attempting to tamper with any part of doping control.  

Brailsford has yet to respond to the Freeman scandal, but after the decision his team released a statement saying the doctor had “fallen short of the ethical standards required of him as a doctor,” but said they did not believe there was evidence to support the finding that any athlete used Testogel or any other performance enhancing substances. 

In 2019, as Ineos took over from Sky as the headline sponsor of the British WorldTour squad, Ratcliffe said he would pull the sponsorship if there was any evidence that his team was not a clean cycling operation. 

>>> Paris-Roubaix 2021 postponed, according to report 

Reflecting on his words in the wake of the Freeman scandal, Ratcliffe said: “I was very clear, right from the beginning, that if there was ever any sense of that going on in our team, I'd walk away from it immediately. And nothing's changed in that regard.”

Let's get all the legal stuff out of the way first shall we?

Ineos Grenadiers say they don't agree with the General Medical Council's verdict that their doctor Richard Freeman ordered banned testosterone to dope a rider, citing a lack of evidence that this happened or any wrongdoing by any athlete at any point, but that it is very clear Freeman fell short of ethical standards.

British Cycling also says things have now changed from the "extremely disturbing" days of Dr Freeman, and that the guilty verdict was a "day for sober reflection", the latest in a long line of hangovers that have dogged not only Great Britain's Olympic medal factory but also the British WorldTour team's seven Tour de France yellow jerseys, two Vuelta a España victories, and two Giro d'Italia wins.

It's also important to note Freeman himself has said since the verdict that he's not a doping doctor while also acknowledging people "can't trust anything I say".

We don't need to re-hash the whole episode. The weird, spurious claims of erectile dysfunction, the delays...then more delays. Maybe one day the missing laptop fairy will leave one of the machines that went walkabouts under an Ineos magic pillow - it's hard to think of how else we'll get closer to unearthing the truth of the debacle, especially with the statute of limitations making another investigation, called for by the likes of Bradley Wiggins, an increasingly unlikely reality.

>>> Bradley Wiggins: ‘Freeman case stinks to high heaven’

There's little point in using the marginal gain of having a brain to decide if there's something not quite right here, a better question is: why are we yet to hear from Dave Brailsford on the matter?

"Dave Brailsford is the spectre missing at these proceedings," Freeman's barrister, Mary O'Rourke QC said at the tribunal. "He would have been able to answer an awful lot of questions about what was going on at British Cycling and Team Sky. He was never called."

It's odd that the man who spearheaded both organisations and helped deliver untold success wasn't wanted to give evidence. Surely there were aspects where he could have broken everything down and improved our collective understanding of the case by even one per cent.

But he's missing. Five months ago he was jumping in front of the TV cameras celebrating Tao Geoghegan Hart's marvellous Giro d'Italia victory, telling the cycling world that Ineos were going to do things differently from now on. Less robotic, more attacking, open racing. It's just a shame this liberty hasn't extended to a matter the Ineos boss should really be having a public opinion on.

Speaking after the verdict, Sutton, who was said to have given trustworthy evidence throughout the tribunal, says that neither he nor Brailsford knew about the Testogel. Both BC and Ineos' statements point to Freeman operating as a lone wolf. At the very least you'd hope the mastermind behind British Cycling's success and the birth of Team Sky, who received a knighthood for his services to cycling, would be able to muster some words about how disappointed he is in the man he employed for eight years.

"If you’re a cheat, you're a cheat, you're not half a cheat," Brailsford said in 2013. With the Freeman guilty verdict, what's gone on can no longer be described as a grey area, it's against anti-doping rules and Freeman has been suspended by UKAD pending an investigation. Unfortunately for Brailsford, it happened on his watch. He owes his former and current athletes, as well as the wider cycling world, a statement if not an explanation of his version of events.

Bradley Wiggins, to his credit, has so far spoken the most openly, saying the whole thing "stinks to high heaven", which if nothing else is the most honest thing said by anyone associated with either British Cycling or Team Sky. A word from Dave Brailsford could help to fumigate the situation, Jim Ratcliffe could even do him a 2-for-1 deal on the necessary chemical supplies.

The billionaire sponsor says he has absolutely no interest in cheating or drugs.

"The day that any of that enters our world we'll be exiting that world," Ratcliffe said when the team was re-launched in May 2020. Should Brailsford be concerned a squirt of Ineos hand sanitiser is on the way to rid one of the UK's richest people of this sordid affair?

For others, there still seems to be too much to lose from speaking out.

Chris Froome says he hasn't been following the case closely enough to comment and "isn't interested" in the fact his four Tour de France wins could be tainted by the behaviour inside his old team, while the chiefs of UK Sport at the time of the incident refused to provide comment to the Sunday Times. The likes of Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, who both would have worked with Freeman, also remaining silent when contacted.

Without any evidence, it's overzealous to say Brailsford's silence means he's complicit, as were calls from an MP for the boss to step away from the sport pending a full investigation.

But if you cared about the perception of your previous achievements and how future ones will be perceived, of the reputations of your colleagues and cycling as a whole, why would you keep quiet?

Cycling Weekly reached out to Dave Brailsford but did not receive comment for the piece

A British MP has called for Dave Brailsford to be suspended by Ineos pending a full investigation into how former Team Sky doctor, Richard Freeman, came to order testosterone ‘knowing or believing’ it was to help dope a rider. Ineos Genadiers have denied any wrongdoing.

"Until this is cleared up, all those involved shouldn’t be anywhere near the sport," former shadow sports minister, Clive Efford, who is now a member of the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport select committee, told the Telegraph.

"Clearly, there are questions to be answered and people should be suspended while this is properly investigated."

After contesting four of the 22 charges brought against him by the General Medical Council, admitting to the other 18, including purchasing the banned drug Testogel and lying to the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD), the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) said parts of Freeman's explanations of the case "stretched credulity" and that "the motive for your action was to conceal your conduct".

Following the MPTS verdict, UKAD announced Dr Freeman would be provisionally suspended from all sport as it charged him with two violations, ‘Possession of Prohibited Substances and/or Prohibited Methods and Tampering or Attempted Tampering with any part of Doping Control’.

Efford has added that the ruling against Freeman has shown Team Sky's "zero tolerance" approach to performance-enhancing drugs is nothing more than "a tissue of lies" and that Brailsford now has questions to answer.

"Dave Brailsford gave reassurances about how clean his teams were and unless he was in full control of what was going on, he couldn’t make those assurances," Efford said.

"We have to question, if he didn’t know, why didn’t he? And if it was possible for this to happen, how could he have given assurances that his team was clean?"

Mary O’Rourke QC asked during the tribunal why Brailsford hadn't been called to give evidence.

"Dave Brailsford is the spectre missing at these proceedings,” she said. "He would have been able to answer an awful lot of questions about what was going on at British Cycling and Team Sky. He was never called."

In response to the Freeman verdict, Team Ineos said in a statement: "The Team fully supports the work of the GMC and it is very clear from their report that Richard Freeman fell short of the ethical standards required of him as a doctor and acted dishonestly.

"However the Team does not believe that any athlete ever used or sought to use Testogel or any other performance enhancing substance. No evidence has been provided that this ever happened or that there has been any wrongdoing by any athlete at any point. We will continue to give our full support and co-operation to UKAD, as we have done throughout this process, as they continue to investigate his conduct.  We will not be making any further comment."

Shane Sutton has said he is disappointed he was used as a scapegoat in the Dr Richard Freeman saga after his former British Cycling and Team Sky colleague was found guilty of ordering testosterone ‘knowing or believing’ it was to help dope a rider.

Sutton, who was performance director at the time Freeman ordered the banned drug Testogel to British Cycling and Team Sky Manchester HQ in June 2011, with Freeman claiming he was bullied into ordering it to treat Sutton's erectile dysfunction. Sutton denied these claims and the GMC also raised doubts in their report about whether Sutton had sent bullying texts messages as Freeman had failed to provide any evidence supporting that claim, as well as saying it believes Sutton to have been a credible witness during the case.

>>> Ineos Grenadiers respond to Richard Freeman guilty verdict

Sutton has now issued his own statement, saying he is "disappointed that he was used as a scapegoat", while maintaining that neither he nor Dave Brailsford were aware of the order containing 30 sachets of Testogel.

"I'm saddened by the whole affair," Sutton said in a statement to the Daily Mail.

"I feel for the doctor; that he ever got into this situation, and I remain disappointed that I was used as a scapegoat. It has caused great pain to both me and my family. But it also saddens me that this episode has cast a huge shadow over the success we enjoyed, both at Team Sky and British Cycling.

"I'd like to stress that neither I nor Sir Dave Brailsford knew about the testosterone order. But I think it's important to find out who the doctor ordered it for. Hopefully that will emerge from the investigation by UK Anti-Doping."

While Freeman's tribunal will continue on March 17 to decide whether he will struck off as a medical practitioner, UK Anti-Doping have provisionally suspended Freeman from involvement in all sport.

"UKAD acknowledges today’s decision of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal in the case of Dr Richard Freeman," UKAD Chief Executive, Nicole Sapstead, said.

"Following the announcement, UKAD can confirm that Dr Richard Freeman has been charged under the UK Anti-Doping Rules (UK ADR) with two violations - Possession of Prohibited Substances and/or Prohibited Methods and Tampering or Attempted Tampering with any part of Doping Control.

"While the charges are pending, Dr Freeman is subject to a provisional suspension from all sport."

Sir Dave Brailsford has announced his team’s leadership for the 2021 editions of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España. 

Ineos Grenadiers boast multiple Grand Tour winners in their roster, making race leadership a tough decision for management, but the team have opted to give Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates their own opportunities this season.

As reported by CyclingNews, Brailsford announced that Bernal would lead the team in the Giro d’Italia, Thomas would return to the Tour de France as their chosen rider, while Yates will challenge for the Vuelta a España later in the season. 

Brailsford said: “Do we put all our top riders in the Tour or spread them across the three?

“I think this gives us a nice balance across the races.” 

Bernal will race the Giro d’Italia in May, his first Grand Tour since abandoning the 2020 Tour de France due to back problems. 

The 24-year-old Colombian, winner of the 2019 Tour de France, has been addressing his back problems over the winter after discovering they were caused by having one leg slightly longer than the other.

Brailsford said Bernal needs to “find the joy of racing again,” suggesting he may have become too focused on results. 

The team principal added that Bernal could also ride the Tour, but his main focus is the Giro.

Thomas,  34, winner of the 2018 Tour, will return to France once again after the disappointment of crashing out of the Giro d’Italia last year. 

Brailsford says this year’s Tour suits Thomas’s attributes, due to the time trial kilometres, the nature of the climbs, and the chances of crosswinds in the opening week, and that the Welshman is highly motivated to perform. 

Richard Carapaz, winner of the 2019 Giro d'Italia, will also ride the Tour along with last year's Giro winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, Brailsford confirmed.

>>> Tao Geoghegan Hart will ride Tour de France over Giro d’Italia this season  

For the Vuelta new signing Adam Yates, who parted ways with Mitchelton-Scott (and his twin brother Simon) at the end of last season, will be given his first Grand Tour leadership in Ineos colours. 

Dave Brailsford could hardly contain himself as he was introduced on Eurosport by Bernie Eisel after Tao Geoghegan Hart had secured victory at the Giro d'Italia, throwing his arms around his former rider in celebration before giving us the Davey B post-match analysis of how the 2020 Giro unfolded.

"When we started out Geraint was the leader, and when you think about what happened here, Filippo [Ganna] set the scene. Coming with the rainbow bands, got the TT sorted, got the pink jersey, then a massive disappointment Geraint going home," Brailsford began, of Ineos' rollercoaster first few days at the 2020 Italian Grand Tour.

"Filippo won that road stage in the hills everybody was like 'wow...that's an incredible performance'. That inspired everybody and we thought you know what guys let's just open the race up, everybody race for stages, give everybody an opportunity, and Tao just follow everyone on GC.

"And I think he liked that, he grew into the role, there was no pressure on him, it was an adventure every day, he was getting better and better."

>>> What comes next? ‘I don’t know and I don’t really care’ says Tao Geoghegan Hart after Giro d’Italia victory

Brailsford gives deserved credit to Rohan Dennis, who successfully dispatched Sunweb's Wilco Kelderman over the two tough mountain days in the final week, to leave Geoghegan Hart with just Jai Hindley to deal with in securing the maglia rosa.

"Rohan Dennis has to have a mention in this because he was unbelievable here. However, I would say for Tao there was a moment in this race when he switched from being 'maybe, maybe, maybe' to 'I can do this'. He's a geezer at the end of the day. Him and Bradley Wiggins, London has something about it."

The 56-year-old then recalled the Hollywood-ready story of how his latest British Grand Tour champion bunked off school to attend the Team Sky launch a decade ago.

"The story I like about Tao is that when we started the team he bunked off school to ride behind the other guys, dreaming of being a pro and now coming into the team and winning a Grand Tour. It's the stuff of comic books really," Brailsford said.

As for how his team went about winning the race, Brailsford cherished the fact they did it with attacking racing, rather than the defensive, Ineos-train style that viewers have grown used to at Grand Tours over the last decade.

"What I like about this is we've done the train, the defensive style of riding, won a lot doing that, but it's not much fun compared to this.

"The sport is about racing, the emotion, the exhilarating moments and that's where we want to be."

Brailsford saved his last words for the man missing from their celebrations. Nico Portal.

"A lot of people have contributed to this victory, and we can't think about that without thinking about Nico. Everybody in this team has supported Tao along the way and we can't forget that."

Sir Dave Brailsford Ineos Grenadiers “continued to work with their heads down, but didn’t notice other teams were overtaking them,” as the British squad looks to reinvent itself in 2021.

The British WorldTour team lost their stranglehold on the Tour de France this year, as reigning champion Egan Bernal was unable to defend his title and eventually abandoned the race.

Ineos is undergoing a major shake-up for the 2021 season, signing a host of new riders while team CEO Fran Millar has left the squad after 11 years. 

In an interview with Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, team principal Brailsford said: “We continued to work with our heads down and did not notice that other teams were overtaking us us.

“We cannot afford to keep working the way we did. We have come to the point where we have to admit that other teams have passed us and that it is time for a different approach.”

Brailsford added that the team need to take a step back and think about their approach to the next five years.

Ineos have been the dominant team in the Tour de France since their first win in 2012, taking six of the last eight editions with four different riders.

But the team’s control of the race appeared to slip in the 2020 edition, with Jumbo-Visma taking over as the controlling team as Bernal fell out of contention.

For next year, Ineos have signed a wave of new and familiar talent including British star Tom Pidcock and former Team Sky rider Richie Porte. 

But the team have also parted ways with their long-standing CEO Fran Millar, who has moved across to be CEO of the clothing brand Belstaff, owned by chemical company Ineos. 

Announcing her departure, Millar said: “Leaving the sport I grew up in was tough, but leaving a team I helped build, filled with incredible staff and riders I genuinely love broke my heart a little bit, but I was offered an incredible new challenge that I’d have been silly to turn down.

“The last 11 years with Sky/Ineos were the dictionary definition of unreal. I have to pinch myself sometimes that it all actually happened. There’ve been some indescribable, mind-blowing highs and some heartbreaking, gut-wrenching lows. I wouldn’t change a single day of it.” 

Ineos have also suffered some bad luck at the Giro d’Italia, with Geraint Thomas crashing out of the race after hitting a stray bidon in the neutral section of stage three. 

>>> ‘A little tension can’t hurt’ says Julian Alaphilippe after almost missing out on Brabantse Pijl after celebrating too early again  

Luckily Filippo Ganna has saved the day for the team, taking two stage victories in his debut Grand Tour.  

In a year where reality has been turned on its head, it makes sense that Ineos' dominance at the Tour de France would also come to an end.

Since their first win with Bradley Wiggins in 2012, a Sky/Ineos team leader has never arrived in Paris without the yellow jersey on his shoulders. Apart from this year.

Egan Bernal should make it to Paris despite his persistent back issues, but they in part cost him the defence of his title. Perplexed, the young Colombian struggled to immediately come to terms with why he had felt so empty on the Grand Colombier. But 24 hours later, on the second rest day, Bernal showed the humility and resolve of a true champion, explaining his failure and promising to come back stronger.

For nearly 48 hours, it was only the defending champion's words that reverberated around the cycling world, and with no further explanation from anyone else employed by the most successful team of the past decade, the media was free to take their shots and declare the dynasty dead.

>>> Why are so many climbing records being broken at the Tour de France 2020?

If it was a football match, the opposition fans would have been roused into many choruses of 'you're not singing anymore'. Eventually, Ineos' manager stepped out from the sanctity of the team bus parking area, which has been off-limits to the general public and media thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, to face the inquest of what's gone wrong this year.

"Obviously we are out of the race for the overall. It’s not what we were hoping for but on the other hand, when we had the rest day and took stock of the situation, there’s nobody looking in the mirror more than us," said team principal Dave Brailsford, after being asked to perform the autopsy on his 2020 Tour squad. "But it’s a bit of a test of pride, passion, and character now, to come back from this for the rest of the week."

What could Ineos possibly settle for, apart from the yellow jersey?

"We figured that next year’s Tour starts now," their place in the overall standings may have changed but the management-speak remains the same. The big boss upstairs, Jim Ratcliffe, is said to be accepting of the slim returns on his investment compared to last year.

"He knows it’s part of the sport," Brailsford said of Britain's richest man. "Look, he won it last year at the first time of asking, so I think he understands.

"As far as we are concerned this is the first day of trying to win the Tour next year. That’s the way we are looking at it. It’s not often you can go to the third week of a Grand Tour and experiment, so we are going to use the rest of this week to try and get something out of the race but also to learn and maybe do a few things that we normally wouldn’t risk doing. "

In summation - we're not getting an explanation of what's gone wrong for the British team at this year's French Grand Tour. At least, not yet.

One thing that wasn't a mistake was deciding not to bring Geraint Thomas. The 2018 winner finished second overall at Tirreno-Adriatico and looks to be riding himself into form in time for the Giro d'Italia.

People have been quick to draw the conclusion that this means the Welshman should have been taken to the Tour, but there was no guarantee Thomas would have put in a similar performance against a stronger field with a week less of training and rest. Brailsford maintains he made the best decision with the information he had at the time and that not taking Thomas or Chris Froome to the Tour wasn't a gamble.

"I don’t gamble. People are entitled to their opinions, but I didn’t gamble with selection. They were big decisions. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. I’m sure that people have a lot to say but they’re not privy to the facts that I’ve got," Brailsford argued.

"I’m actually very pleased to see Geraint doing so well at Tirreno-Adriatico and looking so good going into the Giro.

"It was a good decision [on Geraint], regardless of what anybody else may think, and Chris is where Chris is at. He’s just not ready yet for this level of competition and I think he knows that himself. He’s doing a fantastic job of getting back to where he needs to be but on both of those fronts, we will go back and see what we can learn."

The 56-year-old says he's more "battle-hardened" to face the disappointment of this year compared to 2014, when Chris Froome crashed out, and that chasing big highs inevitably risks "having some big lows".

On balance, they've had more good times than bad times, Brailsford correctly estimates, and in Bernal, Ineos looked to be in possession of a rider of whom the only question was how many Tours he could win.

"He can 100 per cent come back from this and I’ve seen it a lot with big Olympic champions when they first win at the Olympics and in sport sometimes you need to lose and then you can go again," Brailsford said.

Whether or not Jumbo-Visma win the Tour with Primož Roglič this year, they have announced themselves as the dominant team in the peloton in these three weeks of racing in France.

Now, Brailsford says he'll go back to the drawing board to figure out how to beat them.

"Jumbo have been building that team for three or four seasons and it’s great to see it. I admire what they have done and they’ve got my utmost respect. Have we got to go back to the drawing board? Totally — and that’s quite exciting in some respects. We’ve got to put together a team and a coaching staff that can deliver and try and win the race again."

Sir Dave Brailsford says he expects some coronavirus cases after the Tour de France rest day tests, but is confident they won’t be within his team.

During the Tour’s first rest day on Monday (September 7) in La Rochelle, all riders and team staff underwent testing as part of the strict measures in place to prevent an outbreak of Covid-19 on the race. 

The results are expected in the morning before stage 10 on Tuesday, with teams likely to be removed from the race if they return two positive tests.  

Brailsford told The Guardian: “It’s likely there will be issues but I wouldn’t expect our team to have any.” 

He added that Ineos Grenadiers had taken extra measures to protect their riders and staff, particularly at meal teams when there is the highest risk of infection as the team sit down for more than 15 minutes without masks to eat. 

The team have taken two chefs to the race, one cooking for the riders and one cooking for the staff from their kitchen truck, with staff eating outside the hotel. 

On Saturday’s stage eight in the Pyrenees, some roadside fans would be seen not wearing their protective masks on the slopes of the Peyresourde and getting too close to riders. 

To access the climbs, fans needed a bike and a mask, making it even more perplexing that spectators were wearing their masks under their chin as the peloton passed.

Israel Start-Up Nation’s Dan Martin says that while the risk of catching coronavirus from a roadside fan isn’t massive, everyone who comes to watch the Tour has their part to play to make sure the race gets to Paris, not to mention the risk that spectators could pose to each other as coronavirus cases continue to tick back up in France. 

Martin was also concerned about potential false positives from Monday’s testing.

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He said: “If you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”

“It’s not your fault and I think the biggest fear of everybody is the false positives. Obviously, if you’ve got it it’s for the greater good that you have to go home. You have to 100 per cent understand that. But if you don’t have it and you just had a false positive and then you go home that’s not fair. We’ve just got to hope we still have 22 teams with us on Tuesday.” 

Dave Brailsford says his relationship with Chris Froome is "as good as ever" despite the four-time champion being left out of Ineos' Tour de France team before he leaves for Israel Start-Up Nation at the end of the season.

The British WorldTour squad's boss says everything was done to try and get Froome up to speed for the French Grand Tour, where the 35-year-old seeks a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey, but that the delayed three-week stage race still came too early.

"We looked at everything we can do to support his training programme and our relationship is as good as ever," Brailsford told the BBC.

"We have a professional relationship and a personal relationship, and on both fronts, we are absolutely fine.

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"Chris had a horrific accident last year and he has done amazingly well to come back and be able to compete at the highest end of professional cycling."

Froome is one of two previous winners Ineos will be leaving at home this September, with Geraint Thomas also not showing Tour-winning form at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, and instead giving him leadership for the Giro d'Italia, while Froome will head to the Vuelta a España.

"Geraint has already won the Tour de France but we want to get the Tour of Italy under his belt to join up with his yellow jersey," Brailsford explained. "So we have reallocated our resources and we feel like we have all of the big races covered this year."

Instead, Brailsford will back defending champion Egan Bernal to retain his title, having shown good form before pulling out of the Dauphiné as a precaution, citing a back injury.

The Colombian will be supported by another South American, Giro d'Italia winner Richard Carapaz, the Ecuadorian recently taking his first win for Ineos at the Tour of Poland and now providing a solid back-up should Bernal falter in France.

Bjarne Riis has said Dave Brailsford's plan to withdraw Ineos from the Tour de France if they don't feel it's safe is "selfish".

"I disagree with Brailsford who said last week that they would decide whether it was safe or not," Riis told a group of international media outlets. "It is not for him to decide on that. Governments and [race] organisers will do that. I know Christian Prudhomme very well. He really won't run the Tour if it's not safe."

Ineos boss Brailsford had previously said that while they currently plan to race the delayed Tour de France they will make their own evaluations on how safe this would be, following the same code of conduct that saw the British squad pull out of Paris-Nice a week before the start.

"We would reserve the right to withdraw the team should we deem it necessary," Brailsford told the Guardian. "Whilst the race is on, we will plan to participate, but equally we will monitor the evolving nature of how things play out, as we did prior to Paris-Nice. This is a sensible, responsible and reasoned approach."

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Riis is instead arguing for unity in decision making and for all parties to do "the best for cycling".

"At the moment, everyone in cycling has to work together," Riis said. "We have to do the best for cycling, not for ourselves. That's why I'm not happy with what Brailsford says. It is selfish. At the moment it is not about yourself, but about the whole sport.

"If we want to be 100 percent safe, we probably have to stay at home for two or three years. I can't imagine the UCI running a race if it wasn't safe," added Riis. "I think we've learned a lot from Paris-Nice. We felt safe there, so it is possible to hold a competition. But it is not up to me or you to decide. We should leave that to the experts."

Riis returned to the peloton this year with NTT Pro Cycling, who are one of a number of teams forced to reduce rider and staff salaries amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The team is currently renegotiating with the Japanese telecom company but if a deal is not reached, Danish skylight manufacturer Velux is apparently ready to step in to financially back the squad.

Ineos have been contacted for comment

Sir Dave Brailsford has said cycling needs a better business model, as the coronavirus crisis continues to cause upheaval and uncertainty in the sport.

Team Ineos boss Brailsford also said that if just one race goes ahead this year, it should be the Tour de France.

In an interview on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday morning (April 22), Brailsford also said that there are still health concerns about delaying the Tour until late August, adding that safety measures would need to be taken.

Brailsford, the former performance director at British Cycling, said: “One of the challenges cycling has is that revenue is totally dependent on sponsors and different sponsors are in different businesses and some are more effective than others in the current climate.

“Modernising the business model going forward would be wise for everybody."

He added that finding a new business model for cycling would be a “good lesson” for the future of the sport, featuring a more diversified season with bigger races spread out across the calendar, easing the pressure on one race, the Tour de France.

Brailsford said a new structure would those in cycling to plan for the medium to long term, rather than just the short term.

Earlier this month, Tour de France organiser ASO announced that the three-week race would be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the event now scheduled to start in Nice on August 29.

But the decision not to cancel the 2020 Tour has been met with scepticism in some quarters, as many people feel the coronavirus crisis could still prevent the race from going ahead.

However abandoning the Tour for 2020 could have sweeping consequences for the sport, as sponsors put so much emphasis on the exposure of the world’s biggest bike race.

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On the safety aspect of the Tour, Brailsford said: “There are risks involved and hundreds of people lining the road in close proximity is not the best idea.

"Certain measures would have to be taken in order for the event to be run safely, which is of paramount importance."

But Brailsford said his riders and team are preparing as if the Tour will go ahead in August and September.

Holding the Tour de France in 2020 could lead to “substantial public health concerns,” according to a health expert.

Earlier Tour organiser ASO announced that the three-week race would be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the event now scheduled to start in Nice on August 29.

But the decision not to cancel the 2020 Tour has been met with scepticism in some quarters, as many people feel the coronavirus crisis could still prevent the race from going ahead.

Professor Benjamin Cowie, from the University of Melbourne, has questioned whether the Tour should be abandoned this year to protect public safety.

In an interview with Belgian broadcaster Sporza, he said: “Unless the Tour de France was held in a way that was almost unrecognisable compared to how it has been previously, you would have to say there'd be some pretty substantial public health concerns with holding it in August.”

“[Cancelling the Tour is] a conservative and safe approach, one well worth considering.”

The pros themselves have had a mixed reaction to the news, with many welcoming a clear goal and describing it as a “light at the end of the tunnel.”

Jumbo-Visma’s Tom Dumoulin said that if there is the opportunity to run the Tour in a slimmed down way, that should be the priority, as he is concerned about the economic impact of losing the biggest bike race in the world for a year.

The 2017 Giro d’Italia winner said: “That is why we will do our very best to still organise races. But it should never endanger public health.”

Colombian star Rigoberto Urán (EF Pro Cycling) has also raised concerns about the loss of the Tour.

He said: “Nothing is certain in this situation, our goal is to be at the Tour, but whether it runs or not, we'll see.

“It would be a great economic crisis. Cycling is a poor sport because it is only supported by companies, if the Tour is not run it would be a catastrophe.”

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Urán said that if the Tour de France doesn’t run, only three teams (which he didn’t name) could survive the economic impact.

Team Ineos principal Sir Dave Brailsford recently said his squad would pull out of the Tour if it wasn’t deemed safe to race.

“We would reserve the right to withdraw the team should we deem it necessary,” Brailsford told the Guardian. “Whilst the race is on, we will plan to participate, but equally we will monitor the evolving nature of how things play out, as we did prior to Paris-Nice.”

Strava has given us all the opportunity to gain an extra insight into the effort that the professional riders put into racing.

With statistics for speed, distance, power and more, it's easier than ever to follow every pedal stroke that riders make in the biggest races.

More and more pro riders are joining Strava, with a record number of cyclists from all over the world logging their rides online. Here we present a list of the best pro riders to follow Strava:

Annemiek van Vleuten

If you want to see some staggering numbers on Strava, start with Annemiek van Vleuten.

The Dutch superstar is known for her insane training regime that makes her one of the best riders in the women's peloton.

Whether it's training with the Mitchelton-Scott's men's squad or putting up some enormous distances at altitude, Van Vleuten is sure to inspire anyone to get out on the bike

Strava profile 

Egan Bernal

Everyone wants to follow the progress of a rising superstar, and Egan Bernal looks to be the future of bike racing.

The Colombian is a regular on Strava and posts from the unfamiliar roads and altitude of his home nation.

Velofacts also recently found that Bernal has actually notched up the most distance of any active pro on Strava.

Strava profile 

Lucinda Brand

Dutch rider Lucinda Brand will be well known to both road riders and cyclocross fans alike, but it's her cyclocross exploits that are the real attraction to her Strava account.

Brand uploads data from her cross races, including heart-rate data which is pretty fascinating.

Strava profile 

Alex Dowsett

If it's the numbers you're interested in, check out Alex Dowsett's account.

The British time trial star not only shares his regular power numbers through Strava, he also posts screengrabs from his Training Peaks to give even more insight into what it takes to lead out for a star sprinter or race against the clock in a time trial.

Strava profile  

Elisa Longo Borghini

Trek-Segafredo's Elisa Longo Borghini is a regular uploader to the social media for athletes and she is a QoM machine.

Check out her rides around the picturesque landscapes of northern Italy.

Strava profile 

Chris Froome

Chris Froome has a sporadic relation with Strava, disappearing for long periods only to return with jaw dropping stats a few months later. While he often skips Strava during the key race months of the year, most notably the Tour de France, in the early season the four-time Tour winner posts his training rides which are guaranteed to blow some minds.

Strava profile

André Greipel

André Greipel is an active Strava user and is well worth a follow for anyone interested in the top-end wattage.

Griepel's huge power output can be tracked through his account and he includes his data from races so you can see his maximum power in a sprint finish.

Strava profile

Romain Bardet

French Grand Tour star Romain Bardet is a regular poster on Strava. While his account flicks between being private and public, if you get the chance follow Bardet make sure you do it for a glimpse into the brutal regime of a three-week racer.

Strava profile

Alexander Kristoff

The highlight of Alexander Kristoff's Strava is the profile picture of him looking very dapper in a dinner jacket. He's one of few words, rarely changing the generic 'lunch ride' or 'morning ride' title.While Kristoff doesn't share all his data on his rides, the Norwegian is worth a follow for his huge distances in tough, cold conditions in his home country.

Strava profile

Michał Kwiatkowski

One of the most interesting riders to follow on Strava, Kwiatkowski has clocked up plenty of kilometres over the last couple of months. An essential domestique for Chris Froome and a Classics star himself, Kwiatkowski usually strips out the power data from his rides, but gave us a treat with his 2017 Milan-San Remo win as he left it in to let us gawk at his huge numbers.

Strava profile

Laurens ten Dam

Laurens ten Dam may have retired from WorldTour racing, but he is still out on the road with his regular training partners to keep the kilometres flowing. The Dutchman plans to continue riding alternative events in his retirement, so keep up with his Strava to see how he progresses in the world of gravel and mountain biking.

Strava profile

Chad Haga

American Chad Haga is a strong time triallist and more importantly a very interesting personality. Haga is a good follow for anyone looling for consistent posting with all the data you could want.

Strava profile

Sir Dave Brailsford

Okay so not a pro, but Team Ineos principal Sir Dave Brailsford is definitely worth following on Strava.

The legendary team boss racks up consistent rides and is no slouch on the pedals.  The only question his Strava raises, is how does he have time to ride so much while running the best Grand Tour team of recent years.

Strava profile 

Sir Dave Brailsford has said “no-one should underestimate Chris Froome” as the four-time Tour de France winner is still fighting back from a career-threatening injury.

Froome has been on the long recovery road after an awful crash suffered at the Critèrium du Dauphinè last June, but recent reports raised concerns about his progress.

However, Froome responded to the suggestion by saying his recovery is going well, while Brailsford said the team is doing everything they can to get the Grand Tour star ready for the 2020 Tour de France.

Brailsford told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport: “No one should underestimate Froome.

“He and Ineos will really do everything they can to get him to his best by the start in Nice.”

Last weekend, reports emerged in Italian cycling magazine Bicisport with quotes from Team Ineos sports director Dario Cioni, who said Froome had left a training camp early and raised doubts about the 34-year-old’s recovery.

Froome responded to the reports on social media, saying: “Hope that I can set this straight. I was last at a training camp at the beginning of December.

“My recovery is going well and I will be heading to my next training camp on Thursday. Onward.”

Froome’s 2019 season was completely derailed when he crashed at high-speed during a recon of the stage four time trial of the Dauphinè in Roanne.

He suffered multiple fractures in the fall, including a fractured hip, femur and vertebrae and has undergone multiple operations.

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After having surgery to remove pins and screws in November, Froome can now look to his racing return and has been training in the hope of being race-ready in time for the 2020 Tour.

Brailsford added: “After the accident, Chris is working incredibly hard.

“He is putting all the courage and determination into training that led him to win seven Grand Tours to be ready in time for the start of the 2020 Tour.”

Sir Dave Brailsford has revealed he recently underwent treatment for prostate cancer after being diagnosed earlier this year.

The Team Ineos boss has explained how he received a call in February from his doctor, telling him that a regular blood test had returned an irregularity.

After further scans, Brailsford learned of the seriousness of his cancer diagnosis on the eve of the Tour de France, the biggest race on the calendar for him and the British WorldTour team he leads.

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In an interview with The Times newspaper, the 55-year-old gave details of the five-hour operation he underwent three weeks ago, and how the diagnosis has changed his perception.

Brailsford, who founded Team Ineos (then Sky Procycling) in 2010, said: “There’s bound to be fear.

“It’s the great unknown. I think I’m resilient, tough, I can put up with a lot but in hospital one day I was overwhelmed to be honest.”

Brailsford received a call from his doctor in February to alert him that a quarterly blood test showed he had a raised level of prostate-specific antigen, which can be an indicator of prostate cancer, which combined with spells of chronic fatigue set alarm bells ringing.

He then underwent a transperineal biopsy, a test to look for cancer cells, on the Monday before the start of the Tour de France in July, which confirmed the diagnosis.

Brailsford added: “I’m thinking ‘this is just a hassle. I’m too busy’. Luckily I have a brilliant doctor who put his foot down.

“I try to be matter-of-fact, analytical about things. That wasn’t possible then.”

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During the Tour de France, which was won by Team Ineos’s Colombian revelation Egan Bernal, Brailsford was researching the disease in the thorough and analytical way that has made him a totem in sport.

After the Tour, Brailsford then underwent surgery in Birmingham last month, an open prostectomy, with surgeons making a five-inch incision in the abdomen to remove the prostate.

He is expected to find out whether the operation was fully successful this week.

Sir Dave Brailsford has praised Tour de France champions Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome for their selflessness in helping support the team.

Team Ineos boss Brailsford is celebrating a seventh Tour win in eight years with a fourth different rider, this time 22-year-old Egan Bernal.

Bernal is the first Colombian to win the French Grand Tour and Brailsford said he is proud to have played a part in creating the historic moment.

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Brailsford said: “Riders who have won this – the calibre of Geraint or of Chris Froome – when those guys realise it’s the moment to support, they do. You don’t have to talk to them, they really understand the sport and they’ve got respect for each other – we’re a team.

“They know that the team needs to win and they’ll put the team in front of themselves. Geraint demonstrated that once again like the great champion he is.”

Bernal now joins Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas as the fourth Tour winner to emerge from the British outfit, and has made history with his victory.

Brailsford added: “I’ve been over to Colombia a couple of times in the last few years and the Colombians themselves, and where cycling sits in their culture, is unbelievable.

“To be able to deliver their first ever Tour de France champion is something we’ve spoken about previously. I feel very proud. It’s a privilege to get to work with all these people – fantastic staff and fantastic new owners.”

>>> Geraint Thomas admits he’s disappointed not to win Tour de France 2019 but proud to help Egan Bernal

Team Ineos sports director Nicolas Portal added: “It’s incredible. [Bernal] was a junior a few years ago and he’s won the Tour de France. I think it’s great for cycling, this year has been a super Tour de France.

“It’s been a big battle for all the teams. A few people commented that in the last 20 or 30 years it was the most exciting Tour. For a few days there was a small bunch with a few guys and really small gaps. We’re happy to win this one and to have first and second is incredible.”

Dave Brailsford has said that safety precautions are more important than bike racing, the Team Ineos boss seeming to acknowledge the decision to stop stage 19 of the Tour de France 2019 was the correct one.

The race was stopped on the descent of the l'Iseran, due to a freak hailstorm and a landslide blocking parts of the route and endangering riders.

The race was called at the top of the l'Iseran, with times taken as each rider crossed the summit, with Egan Bernal (Ineos) the first to do so and therefore taking the stage win. Alaphilippe reached the summit over two minutes later, therefore relinquishing the race lead to the young Colombian.

>>> Tour de France stage 19 stopped at top of Col de l’Iseran due to freak hailstorm and landslide

Speaking to ITV, Brailsford said: "I think first and foremost there's obviously been a quite considerable landslide but you've got to make sure everyone's alright. The fans, people at the roadside, there's bike racing but then you've got to make sure everyone is alright is my first reaction."

Everything was going well for Ineos as the riders started to descended the l'Iseran, with Egan Bernal pulling away at the front of the race and Geraint Thomas marking the other GC rivals with Alaphilippe playing catch up behind.

With Bernal taking the yellow jersey after opening up enough of a gap at the top of the l'Iseran, Brailsford said it was a good day for the team, and that the result was in part due to their tactics on the portion of the stage that was raced.

"Fortune favours the brave at the end of the day, we were always going to take today on and I thought the guys rode really well to be honest," Brailsford said.

"Dylan van Baarle got in the break, Castroviejo [was working hard], Wout Poels was working well. Thomas and Bernal had a plan, G went first and then Egan went over the top.

"Who knows what would have happened after that. We were hoping to get to the descent in that situation and then who knows what would have happened. We don't control the weather. In one way I'm really happy but in another way I'm still really concerned for everyone else out there."

Although Alaphilippe had lost more than two minutes to Egan Bernal at the top of the Col de l'Iseran, it was likely the Frenchman would claw back valuable seconds on the descent, before the summit finish ascent to Tignes, which was more suited to him.

"Maybe Alaphilippe would have come back on the descent," Brailsford said, "he's a great descender, but if he'd caught the group in front they wouldn't have helped him. He would have had to do it himself and Egan was looking the strongest on the road. But we'll never know will we."

Brailsford was then asked whether a natural disaster will have helped them win the Tour de France, which received a spiky reply: "It didn't. No, we'll win the Tour de France because of how we ride."

Team Ineos hope Luke Rowe’s disqualification from the Tour de France won’t be a distraction in the pivotal final weekend.

Welshman Rowe was kicked off the race as the Tour moves into the decisive Alps phase, where Geraint Thomas hopes to be able to move into the yellow jersey.

But the controversy around Rowe and Jumbo-Visma’s Tony Martin threatened to break the focus of Thomas and his team.

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Martin and Rowe were involved in an altercation in the final 15km of stage 17 to Gap and, despite their teams launching an appeal they were not allowed to start the daunting mountain stage the following day.

Team Ineos principal Sir Dave Brailsford said before stage 18: “The key thing is not to allow this to be a distraction, focus on what we have to do.

“We still have to race with seven guys, make sure everyone is 100 per cent engaged with that.”

TV footage from the final of stage 17 show Rowe shoving Jumbo’s general classification leader Steven Kruijswijk, prompting Martin to swerve Rowe and almost knock him off his bike.

The Team Ineos road captain then responded by pushing Martin’s face with his hand or fist.

Brailsford said he maintains his view that neither Rowe nor Martin should have been disqualified, with much of the peloton in agreement.

Team Ineos and Jumbo had hoped to appeal the decision and get their riders reinstated, as both Rowe and Martin are powerful riders who controlled the peloton on the flat, their roles even more pivotal on a day with multiple high-mountains like stage 18.

But the race rolled out of Embrun early on Thursday morning (July 25) without either rider in the peloton, as it became clear the appeal had failed.

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Geraint Thomas, who is currently sat in second overall, said: “It’s not ideal, but you’ve just got to deal with it now, move on, and take the day as it comes.

“Obviously we’ll miss him, but we’ve lost riders in past Tours as well.

“Luke’s key role is in the start for days like today. Everyone has to be a bit more attentive and on who’s in the breaks and so on.”

Sir Dave Brailsford has shared his thoughts on why the 2019 Tour de France has been “one of the most exciting editions for a long time.”

This year’s race has been a rollercoaster both in the fight for stages, with 12 different riders winning in the first 12 days, to a remarkable general classification battle that remains balanced on a knife-edge on the second rest day.

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As Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) maintains his race lead after the pivotal Pyrenees phase, the race now heads towards the final mountain tests in the Alps, where Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) will look to grasp the yellow jersey themselves.

Team Ineos principal Brailsford, who has overseen the British squad for all of their six Tour de France wins, says the key factors may be the absence of Chris Froome, and the dominance of Alaphilippe in the race.

Speaking at the Team Ineos rest day press conference in Nîmes, Brailsford said: “It’s a different year this year, the way its played out. You ask yourself why is that, what’s the dynamic? Obviously it’s the first time Chris hasn’t raced for a number of years, although he didn’t win last year.

“I think that has had an impact from the outset, but as the race has developed I think Alaphilippe gained time with an aggressive style of riding and his presence - he’s in the race a lot longer than people thought he would be - that has changed the way all the other teams are riding in response to that.

“That’s probably the biggest change in terms of this race. That major variable is impacting a lot of other scenarios around it. It’s having a ripple effect.”

Alaphilippe reclaimed the yellow jersey after punchy climber’s stage eight to Saint-Étienne, but wasn’t expected to hold it through the decisive middle week, which featured a hilly time trial around Pau and two summit finishes, the Tourmalet on stage 14 and Prat d’Albis the following day.

But the Frenchman denied expectations, first winning the time trial, then extending his lead over Geraint Thomas on the Tourmalet.

Thomas then clawed back a handful of seconds after a tactical misstep by Alaphilippe in Foix, setting up an unpredictable final week in the Alps.

Brailsford added: “There’s a conundrum between trying to get rid of Alaphilippe on one hand and then the normal GC guys thinking about racing each other on the other. How you do one is different to how you do the other, so you’ve got this mix of contrasting goals in a way, which is making the whole race very different.”

On Alaphilippe’s interstellar performances, Brailsford added: “I don’t think any of us predicted that he would still be in yellow at this point in the race.

“If he pulls it off, he’s another level in terms of his ability because he’s leading out sprints, he’s going off in the champagne region doing his thing, the way he’s ridden, the way he’s hanging on, and if he was to win this race hats off to the guy.

“He’d be one of the greatest cyclists of all time.”

Team Ineos find themselves in an unusual position, as they have not been leading the peloton in their usual fashion and are trailing the race leader while slowly letting time slip by to attackers like Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), but Brailsford is relishing the challenge.

He said: “It’s an interesting race. It’s brilliant fun. We’ve sat here on the second rest day of a Grand Tour many times and people said we closed the race down, it’s not been exciting. This time it’s fun to be involved in one of the most exciting editions of the race for a long time and who knows how it’s going to finish.

“What makes Grand Tours brilliant is that suspense all the way to the end, not really knowing what’s going to happen. While I think I know what’s going to happen, you just don’t know, which is good fun.

Chris Froome, not Bradley Wiggins, won Great Britain's first Grand Tour – the 2011 Vuelta a España due to a legal ruling – but for Team Ineos "it doesn't feel like it."

With Juan José Cobo's anti-doping confirmation on Thursday, Froome officially stepped from second to first overall and Bradley Wiggins from third to second. Beforehand, Wiggins had been the first British Grand Tour winner with the 2012 Tour de France victory.

>>> We spoke to the person who took 'that' picture of Geraint Thomas' Tour de France crash

"Yes, I guess it is [Britain's first Grand Tour win]. but it doesn't feel like it in a way," Ineos boss David Brailsford told Cycling Weekly.

"There's no need to over-analyse it, it is a bit off a strange one. We never celebrate it, it didn't feel like a victory at the time, but we were pretty pleased with two guys on the podium, and it felt like a breakthrough moment.

"You never know, you change all of that and maybe the rest wouldn't have happened. I'm happy with what we got."

Froome went on to win the Tour de France four times, the Vuelta in 2017 and the Giro d'Italia in 2018.

Mauro Gianetti, then general manager at Cobo's Geox team, would not comment on the issue. It is believed the team were nervous at the time, but was unable to do anything to stop Cobo.

Spaniard Cobo, 38 now, rode through 2014 but never won again.

Froome is currently sitting out the 2019 Tour de France due to a broken femur, ribs and elbow suffered in June.

"It was a breakthrough tour for us with second and third on the podium, it confirmed, we thought, it gave us the believe that we could go and try to win. It was close in the end between Cobo and Chris," said Brailsford.

In Madrid, Froome won by 13 seconds over Cobo and 1-39 over Wiggins.

"I haven't thought about [celebrating], actually. It's just a bit of a strange one in terms of how to react. I don't think anyone will be jumping up and down," continued Brailsford.

"It's like a technically victory. In a victory, you can enjoy the moment and then reflect on it and enjoy how it happened. But it is a strange one. In the here and now, it's great for Chris, but we have other things to focus on, a few things a bit more pressing."

Brailsford spoke in Toulouse, start of stage 12 of the 2019 Tour de France. Geraint Thomas (Ineos), the 2018 Tour winner, sits second overall as the race enters the Pyrénées.

Froome said in a statement released by Team Ineos that the Vuelta victory was extra special as it was Britain's first Grand Tour win.

"The Vuelta in 2011 was in many ways my breakthrough race, so this red jersey is special for me," Froome said.

"I guess it’s extra special too, because - even though it’s eight years on - it was Britain’s first Grand Tour win. The Vuelta is a race I love and I have always felt a great connection with it and the Spanish fans."

Team Ineos boss Sir Dave Brailsford has said "the strongest rider is always the leader" ahead of the Tour de France 2019, with the British squad expected to include two previous champions in Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.

"We will [all] be sitting together in the coming weeks to determine our strategy. Froome and Thomas have the experience of how it all works," said Brailsford, speaking to Dutch television network Sporza. "As long as the roles are clear and clear decisions are made, our team will function well.

"The most important thing is that the riders trust each other."

Having two past winners would make you confident heading into any race. Brailsford is further encouraged, however, by also having a fully fit and fresh mountain domestique in Egan Bernal at the Tour de France, after the Colombian was ruled out of the Giro d'Italia 2019 days before the start after breaking his collarbone in a training ride crash. Brailsford said: "It gives us more options".

The 22-year-old finished 15th in last year's Tour, despite working for Geraint Thomas, helping him win his first ever Grand Tour.

There couldn't be a greater contrast in the debate over team leadership responsibilities between Ineos' squads at this year's Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. After Bernal's crash, the British team took no strong prospect for the overall classification to Italy, a rare occurrence for an outfit that has won six of the last 13 Grand Tours.

"For Tao Geoghegan Hart and the other young Ineos riders, this Giro was the ideal opportunity to discover their potential. It rarely happens that we start a Grand Tour without a great leader."

Brailsford specifically praised Pavel Sivakov, the young Russian who won the overall classification at the Tour of the Alps prior to a Giro that saw him finish ninth on GC as well as second in the young rider classification to Miguel Ángel López (Astana).

"He exceeds expectations and is doing great," Brailsford said. "He is here [at the Giro] to learn how you can perform for three weeks."

Despite the young crop of talent being developed in the team, Brailsford realises he does have an ageing group of key lieutenants who aren't getting any younger.

While he doesn't highlight anyone in particular, Christian Knees is 38, Vasil Kiryienka is 37, Michał Gołaś is 35 and even Froome and Thomas are 34 and 33, respectively.

"At Ineos we currently have a group of top riders who are 33 to 34 years old. And with Egan and Pavel we also have a group of good young rider. In between we have riders who are coming into their twilight years. It is difficult."

The British coach has highlighted one type of rider he would like to recruit in the coming years: "I would like to have a Belgian rider on the team. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal) is an interesting rider. But he is not the only Belgian on the market with an expiring contract".

Team Sky will have a new sponsorship deal almost complete by the start of Giro d’Italia, according to sports director Matteo Tosatto.

The Italian DS says the new backer will be European and is not the Colombian oil company, as was previously suggested by reports.

British WorldTour outfit Sky is on the hunt for a new sponsor after its parent company Sky plc was bought by American communications giant Comcast.

>>> Geraint Thomas Tour de France trophy theft investigation stalls

The Sky sponsorship, which dates back to 2009, will come to an end after the 2019 season.

Tosatto, an ex-Tinkoff pro who retired in 2016, told Spanish newspaper Marca: “Before the Giro we will have an agreement almost completely safe for the continuity of the team.

“It will be European, from home.”

Tosatto added that there is no possibility of reaching an agreement with the Colombian government, after team principal Sir Dave Brailsford met with officials to discuss a potential sponsorship.

According to reports, the meetings were to discuss the possibility of being sponsored by oil and gas firm Ecopetrol.

But Brailsford later said this was ‘very unlikely.’

Last month, reports emerged suggesting that Team Sky’s new parent company Comcast could continue to part sponsor the team beyond 2019.

The company reportedly offered Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford enough cash to fund 70 per cent of the budget for the 2020 and 2021 season, giving him the opportunity to find the remainder from another sponsor.

>>> ‘UCI penalising the way we race with fines,’ says Alex Dowsett

Rumours also suggested that a merger with Pro Continental team Israel Cycling Academy could be on the cards, as Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams hopes to take his team to the Tour de France by 2020.

Another recent report suggested Russian tycoon Oleg Tinkov had made an offer to Team Sky, after he left cycling behind in 2016.

But Tinkov called the suggestion “bulls**t.”

Team Sky continuing in 2020 with Colombia as the new sponsor is "very unlikely" despite recent talks, says general manager David Brailsford.

Brailsford was in Colombia this last week for the Tour Colombia, won by Miguel Angel López (Astana). Team Sky's new recruit, Ivan Sosa placed second overall on home roads.

"I am open to everything, if they call me..." Brailsford told Spanish outlet Marca. He added that a deal to back the team, which will lose Sky media after 10 years and six Tour de France wins, is "very unlikely."

Sky announced in December it would no longer continue as the WorldTour team's backer. Since, rumours have circulated that backers could come from the US, Israel, and now Colombia.

This week, Sky made a big push in Colombia with 21-year-old Sosa, 22-year-old Egan Bernal and Tour star Chris Froome.

Brailsford guided the team but also met with the Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez, the sports secretary and businesses including oil company Ecopetrol.

"Colombian cycling has enormous potential, everyone knows it," Brailsford continued.

"I have no doubt that Colombian cycling will continue to grow, Colombia has many possibilities to become the first world power. [Next year], I want to set up a training camp here before the race."

Froome arrived ahead of the race this year and logged a massive 188 kilometres on day one, including a dirt and gravel pass on his Pinarello time trial bike.

In the race, Froome crashed on Saturday but placed 91st overall in his 2019 season debut.

"[The race was] very beautiful, very lively, as always, it has been followed by a large number of fans. For us the experience of last year had already been good, but I think this year the race has grown," said Brailsford.

"This year, there have been more climbs and also more altitude than the past, which has made the tour more difficult for those coming from Europe. It is clear that the level of all the riders has been very high. They have given the race even more importance. It was a very nice race to start the season."

Brailsford is keeping his cards close to his chest for a backer to continue the team, which currently runs on the sport's biggest budget of around £34 million. However, he said early on that he would give himself a deadline of July, by the Tour de France, to secure a sponsor. If none is found he would tell his riders to look for other teams.

A report last month in La Gazzetta dello Sport said that Sky would continue backing the team without its name on the jersey at 70 per cent of its currently level in 2020 until Brailsford secured a deal.

The news that BSkyB will end its sponsorship of the British team at the end of 2019 means Sir Dave Brailsford now faces the biggest challenge of his management career. Blessed with a supportive sponsor since 2009 he has been able to concentrate on building his team and developing riders since their debut season in 2010. The success that has followed is in no small part down to that focus brought on by the financial stability.

Brailsford’s strength, both at British Cycling and Team Sky has been building a team around the riders, and putting their needs and performance at the centre of all they do. Blessed with big budgets at both organisations he has nonetheless spent his money wisely and built structures that have produced incredible results.

Now that unwavering support has gone he enters uncharted waters and will have to rapidly change his focus, and hope his riders and staff keep theirs.

More on this story:

 - Team Sky’s open letter to fans as main backer announces sponsorship will end

 - Chris Froome: ‘This is a special team – we plan to be together in 2020’

All his focus will now have to go into finding a new headline sponsor, and to match the wages he pays out, he will hope it’s one with pockets as deep as Sky’s.

This is not a new situation in cycling. Other team managers go through this on a semi-regular basis as sponsors come and go. The constant calls for a new funding structure for the sport comes from the fact that the source of most team’s budgets is so volatile.

All WorldTour team managers will have been in this situation at least once before.

Brailsford however has been protected by this largely through his relationship with Sky’s former chairman, James Murdoch. The pair had grown close over the years to the point where they would sit in Murdoch’s office and pore over the details on the CQ-Ranking website as they looked for new signings and discussed team building.

Murdoch famously loaned Brailsford his private jet to fly out to the 2011 Vuelta to hurriedly re-sign Chris Froome as his new star gave the world the first glimpse of what he was capable of at that Grand Tour.

With Murdoch in place, Brailsford effectively had a blank cheque book at his disposal. In the team's formative years many who left were never sacked, simply told they weren’t needed any more and paid up to the end of their contract while a replacement was found and employed.

That sort of funding makes building a team a little easier.

Murdoch resigned from the board of Sky PLC in October after the company was taken over by Comcast. It’s likely his exit had a significant bearing on the company’s decision to end their funding.

With the announcement coming early on Wednesday morning, the clock has already started ticking in the search for a new sponsor.

Brailsford realistically has until the end of June to find a new backer so he can retain his current riders. Their agents will have to start talking to other teams in July if nothing is arranged by then.

Conversations with prospective sponsors are ongoing behind the scenes, especially for a team’s second and third tier sponsors that regularly come and go. But such was the surprise of Sky’s announcement it’s likely Brailsford will have to start from scratch this time.

That’s six and a half months to find a replacement for the sport’s richest sponsor. Six and a half months when, in the UK at least, big business has all but stopped it’s own internal investment (let alone new marketing spend) as they wait to see what happens with Brexit.

With the UK’s ruling Conservative party in disarray over Brexit the fear is that the political turmoil will run right up until the 11pm on March 29 when the UK is set to leave the EU. This means most businesses are sitting tight and waiting to see what their future looks like before making any big decisions. Many are putting money aside in case they have to work through a disastrous no-deal scenario

While conversations could still take place in this period, the timetable threatens to leave Brailsford with just three months to find a replacement.

David Brailsford could have new sponsor ready to replace out-going Sky, but the riders need to know soon, says agent Johnny Carera.

The team announced this morning that at the end of the 2019 season the telecommunications company would end its sponsorship.

>>> Team Sky’s open letter to fans as main backer announces sponsorship will end

"I think that David Brailsford has something up his sleeve giving he signed riders for 2020 and 2021," Carera told Cycling Weekly.

"I don't think he'd just do that, I think he has an alternative, a sponsor in his pocket. Otherwise, you have to pay those contracts. So, someone has some idea and a plan."

This October, Sky re-signed Egan Bernal on a five-year deal through 2023. It renewed 2018 Tour de France victor Geraint Thomas through 2021.

Last year, it renewed four-time Tour winner Chris Froome through 2020.

Froome is earning an estimated £4 million a year. Thomas's contract could be worth £3.5 million.

Cycling Weekly understands however that Brailsford was only informed of the sponsor pull two weeks ago, but the team have already been in contact with potential new sponsors.

If Brailsford finds a new backer to continue the team, currently operating on a budget of £34 million, then that company would pay those existing contracts in 2020 and beyond. If the team ceases to exist under new sponsorship, the management company would be responsible to pay for the remaining years in the riders' contracts.

Brailsford and his staff face a race against time. They have around five months to announce a deal.

"It's not a great news for the world of cycling that Sky is leaving the sport," Carera continued.

"You have to understand how much time Brailsford is giving to the riders to find a new sponsor. Normally you give them until May, if they don't find a new sponsor for 2020 then the riders are free to look around.

"We are talking about star riders, they can't all just go find teams immediately and earn the same amount of money.

"You can't wait until September if you are Chris Froome or Geraint Thomas, you need to already find a team. And teams need to start to look for that budget around May if they are going to bring on a big star rider. That's an important amount of money, so you can't wait for months.

"By May he should give the riders an idea because then the contract dealing starts already at the Giro d'Italia."

Carera likened the situation to BMC, which announced it would stop backing its team at the end of 2019 after 12 years. BMC Racing Team boss Jim Ochowicz asked the riders to wait while he looked for a new deal.

Eventually, those without 2019 contracts became nervous and signed new deals. Richie Porte is joining Trek-Segafredo, Damiano Caruso and Rohan Dennis leave for Bahrain-Merida. Ochowicz only announced a new deal with CCC in July at the Tour de France, but was able to keep star rider Greg Van Avermaet.

"You have to consider that staff and riders working, it's their job and future, they have families to support. The longer they wait, the harder it is to find that money," Carera said.

"I hope that Sky finds a new sponsor, it's a great team project and should continue."

Dave Brailsford says Team Sky is the best place for 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas to continue his career, after Thomas said he would be "open to hearing other options" with his contract at Sky due to expire at the end of the season.

Thomas has been clear since his win in the Tour de France on Sunday that he would not immediately dismiss offers from other teams, which are likely to feature an increased salary offer after his overall victory.

The Welshman had reportedly verbally agreed a contract with Sky before the Tour, but did not officially sign it. The team and Thomas will now enter negotiations to try and keep him there, with general manager Brailsford saying he'd "like to think we will get it all sorted out."

"I am pretty positive this is the best team for Geraint," Brailsford told BBC Radio Wales.

"It's not unusual that these guys win something big and it puts them in a different place to when they started out.

"With the contract negotiations we will sit down and thrash it all out. We're a team that wants him, a team where he has been very successful, one where it knows the staff.

"Like anyone he is entitled to listen to other options but I'd like to think we will get it all sorted out."

Thomas, 32, has been with Sky since the team's inception in 2010, but will likely find himself competing against four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome and talented young Colombian Egan Bernal for leadership opportunities at Grand Tours.

Other teams could offer Thomas outright leadership, thanks to his win in the Tour, and build a team to fully support him.

However Brailsford said that there is no defined leader already for next year's Tour de France, and that Thomas would still have to "be better" than Chris Froome whether he stayed at Sky or moved on to a rival team.

"It's always been the case at Team Sky that we have individuals who can perform at the highest level," Brailsford said.

"In our sport you don't sit down and right a name of a piece a paper at this stage and say he will be the team leader next year.

"Take Geraint for example, in order to win the Tour de France he would have to beat Chris Froome and Egan Bernal.

"In our sport it has a structure where you're on a team with someone but to win you have to be better than them, whether you're in another team or in that team.

"You have to think of the environment you're in."

David Brailsford says that he has considered his position as Team Sky boss after the recent controversy surrounding him and the team. He made the comments on the eve of the 2018 Giro d'Italia, where Chris Froome is the team's star rider for the race's start in Jerusalem on Friday.

Brailsford was part of the focus of a Parliamentary Select Committee report in March, which criticised Team Sky and British Cycling after looking at medical policies and Bradley Wiggins's therapeutic use exemption (TUE) certificates.

"Have I considered my position? I think anybody who works in this game considers his position," he said when asked if the report made him think about his role at cycling's top team.

"I'm constantly thinking, 'Am I the right person to support the team?' It's not about me, my goal is to try and help these guys, not just to perform, but to perform optimally, and there's a difference."

The 54-page 'Combating Doping in Sport' report published by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee criticised "poor record keeping and poor medicines policies" within British Cycling and Team Sky.

>>> Chris Froome: ‘I’m only thinking about winning the Giro’

It examined Wiggins's TUE use for corticosteroids ahead of big races including his 2012 Tour de France win. They said, "We believe that this powerful corticosteroid was being used to prepare Bradley Wiggins, and possibly other riders supporting him, for the Tour de France."

Brailsford came from British Cycling to start Team Sky in 2010. It turned into the most successful Tour de France team, winning it once with Bradley Wiggins and four times with Chris Froome, including in 2017. Along the way, regardless of the report, Brailsford has considered his place.

"I think regardless of DCMS, there's constantly that piece of self-questioning about am I appropriately placed and have I the skills or whatever else to do that," Brailsford said.

"And I think it's something you ask yourself all the time. Things come and go, things change, and situations change, but I'm here and I'm here because I think I am still in a position to support these guys to be the best they can be."

Brailsford said that he made changes in Team Sky after the report surfaced. "I'll share them when it's appropriate. I'm not going to share them with you right now."

Froome is starting the Giro d'Italia for the first time with the goal to win after already competing in 2009 and 2010. The focus on Wednesday, however, turned quickly to whether Froome should even be racing given he tested above the allowed limit for asthma drug salbutamol at the 2017 Vuelta a España. The case is due to be heard this year, perhaps next month.

>>> Giro d'Italia 2018: Latest news and race info

"With respect to the Giro, we're here to talk about the race," Brailsford said regarding Froome and what may happen with his salbutamol case.

"For the time being, we are here to focus on the fantastic start in Jerusalem. I don't think this is the appropriate venue. We're here to concentrate on the race and on the press conference about the race."

Sir Dave Brailsford took a break from his duties in charge of Team Sky to watch the Monsal Hill Climb in the Derbyshire Peak District on Sunday.

The long-running hill-climb is widely regarded as one of the best in the country, and attracts a large number of spectators every year.

Brailsford used to live in Sheffield, only a short distance from Monsal Head, and rode to the event in full Team Sky kit.

>>> Riders’ heart rate and power data from the Monsal HC show how deep you have to go in a hill climb

He then mixed with fans and even posed for a photo taken by Rob Copeland with pint in hand. It was a far cry from the pressured environment of watching his team during the biggest races on the calendar.

"The secret's out," said Copeland on Twitter. "Chris Froome's recovery drink from the horse's mouth. Amazing to see Sir Dave."

Brailsford also stopped to talk to YouTuber Cameron Jeffers of CyclingCam, who posted his mini-interview with Brailsford online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=euSz5g1Zlhs

Jeffers asked Brailsford whether he was tempted to take part himself.

"I'd love to really, but I think I'll have the same excuse as one I heard a minute ago, which was 'I couldn't race because the dog was sick". That's when you know you're at a local club event, it's nice to hear!"

With no Team Sky riders taking part in the Monsal Hill Climb this year, perhaps Brailsford was indulging in a bit of talent spotting for the future.

Adam Kenway (Raleigh-GAC) took the men's honours, with Rebecca Goodson (Velo Schils Interbike) securing the women's title.

Chris Froome's victory in the 2017 Tour de France, sealed with third place in stage 20's time trial on the streets of Marseille, is the best of the Brit's four titles, according to Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford.

Froome won in 2013 after placing second while working for Bradley Wiggins in 2012. He backed it up with wins in 2015 and 2016, and, assuming all goes to plan in the Paris stage on Sunday, 2017 too.

"This was probably the best in terms of how he rode, the difficulties presented and the way the team rode," team boss David Brailsford said. "He made it clear at the start, it was going to be the toughest one for him to win."

>>> Chris Froome secures historic fourth Tour de France victory

This year's route with only three summit finishes, many flat days, and limited time trials made life difficult for Froome. He also decided to come in slightly off form to arrive at his best shape in the third week. Some say that this is also so he can carry his form to the Vuelta a España next month.

"Today's stage felt like [stressful], but I remember feeling pretty stressed when Nairo Quintana was riding up Alpe d'Huez and Chris had a bad chest [cold], that was a long day as well!" Brailsford said, referring to the final summit finish of the 2015 Tour.

"The thing about this Tour... I've been thinking about it, the fact that we took the yellow jersey on the first day made it a very long race. And it has been so close throughout the race that it made a very tense race, so in that sense, it's been the most difficult three weeks that we've raced."

>>> Five talking points from stage 20 of the Tour de France

Froome began the Tour, unlike in previous years, without a win in the early season. Many speculated that he was not at his best, and those voices became louder after he lost 22 seconds and the yellow jersey to Fabio Aru on the stage to Peyragudes.

"He didn't have the racing miles maybe, things didn't go his way, he got sick, Romandie didn't go to plan, but he's been working a long time with [coach] Tim Kerisson and becoming confident with what it takes.

“He doesn't need to win anymore to get that confidence. He had that trajectory where you hoped he was on track, but I'm not going to lie, in the Dauphiné, I thought, 'I hope we got this right!' "

Dave Brailsford believes that Team Sky will have an advantage over other general classification teams in the next two mountain stages of the Tour de France.

Chris Froome goes into the two crucial stages with an 18 second lead over Fabio Aru (Astana) and with Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Rigoberto Uran (Cannodale-Drapac) also within 30 seconds of the Sky man.

Stage 17 sees the peloton climb the Croix de Fer and the Col du Galibier before a descent into Serre Chevalier, while stage 18 finishes with a first ever summit finish to Col d'Izoard.

>>> The Col d’Izoard: A giant of the Tour de France

Speaking to Cycling Weekly after stage 16 about what can be expected in the Alps showdown, Brailsford said: "It will depend on the four guys who are very close and how they are feeling, and the strength of their teams and who has teammates.

"I'd like to think we have the advantage at the minute with [Mikel] Landa and Chris in the front group and on GC. We'll see if we can use that to our advantage tomorrow.

"All things being equal, we should have two guys in the front group which I think on that last descent could really count for something.

"If anyone will have a go, if anyone has the mentality, it will be [Alberto] Contador. But there'll be others too. It will be gripping and so tactical. It'll be exciting."

Watch: Tour de France stage 16 highlights

Asked if he thinks bigger time gaps between the top four riders might emerge in the coming days, he responded: "A lot will depend on Wednesday. It will come down, I think, to the strength of a rider's team, but also which top guys have the best legs. Whoever will win this Tour de France will really deserve it."

Many expect Aru, Bardet and Uran to attack Froome in the Alps, given the 22.5km time trial in Marseille on the penultimate day, where logic would suggest that Froome will post a better time than the trio.

>>> Five talking points from stage 16 of the Tour de France

But Brailsford is warning against that type of thinking. "You just can't say that," he said. "You have three weeks worth of fatigue. All the norms you usually work with, that's not an appropriate benchmark at this stage of the game.

"We will see where we get to in terms in terms of freshness on the day. A lot of it in time trialling is about the execution of the ride on the day, a bit like in individual or team pursuit. It will come down to that. You can't get over-excited, or go hard too soon; you've got to pace it right. It's impossible to predict.

"Our job is to try and get to the end of the time trial with either the same situation we are in now, or better than what we're in."

So tight is the race at the top of the standings, Brailsford even suggested that the yellow jersey could be decided on the cobbled streets of the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday, an unprecedented situation in modern times.

>>> Michal Kwiatkowski: ‘Froome thanks me a couple of times a day at the Tour de France’

"Who knows, we might well have a scenario where we'll be racing on Sunday for the win," he said. "Everyone thinks Sunday is a done deal [usually], but we might be racing. It's pretty exciting.

"I don't know whether it's the course [that has made the race to close] or a group of riders being on the same level; it's hard to pin down. But we find ourselves in this positioning.

"We're in fun territory. Everyone is gripped by it, including ourselves. It's what sport is all about.

"Winning with a big margin is always fun, but equally I think for everyone involved, for the race, for the sport, for racing and for the fans, this is the dream scenario."

Geraint Thomas has fallen many times before in his career, but Team Sky says that it will take a while for him to overcome his crash at the Tour de France on Saturday which forced him out of the race.

Chris Froome's helper and the team's plan B fell on the wet descent of the Grand Colombier and fractured his right collarbone.

The incident comes on the heels of Thomas's Giro d'Italia disappointment. The 31-year-old began the race as leader but a fall due to a parked police motorbike forced him to quit.

>>> Geraint Thomas ‘massively disappointed’ to crash out of Tour de France

"It's just so disappointing for him," team boss David Brailsford told Cycling Weekly. "He's going from the disappointment of crashing out in the Giro to the high of winning the first stage in the Tour, yellow jersey for a number of days and then the disappointment of this again.

Watch: Tour de France 2017 stage nine highlights

"It's a roller coaster for sure. I'd like just to say he'll dust down and get going again, but it's hard, it's generally hard. It'll take quite a lot for him now to get over this and get his head around it all."

Thomas this evening wrote a message of thanks in Twitter for the support along with an X-ray photograph of his fracture. He also joked that he was putting his tattered jersey up for sale.

"We'll be there to support him and do everything we can," Brailsford added. "There's no taking away from the fact he'll be bitterly disappointed, that's for sure."

Thomas sat second overall at 12 seconds behind Froome at the start of the day. He said he fell when Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) crashed in front of him.

The silver lining to the dark clouds that sat above Chambéry this afternoon is Thomas won the opening time trial in Düsseldorf and experienced the responsibility of wearing the yellow jersey for four days.

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"Despite the negatives, there's been some very big highs as well and think it was a majestic performance in the prologue," said Brailsford. "For him to wear the yellow jersey like he did has given him a real appetite for it. So every cloud has its lining."

Brailsford warned of reading too much into Thomas's string of bad luck and crashes, pointing out that many had been to due with others falling in front of Thomas.

In the Giro, he and Brailsford carefully planned his next step in the Tour before he left. Today, they had little time to speak before he flew home.

Thomas had laughed off the idea of racing the Vuelta a España before the start of the Tour de France. Brailsford added, "It's way too early to talk about what's next".

Team Sky find the controversy surrounding the skinsuits it used in the Tour de France opening time trial on Saturday "quite funny," says team boss Dave Brailsford.

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Team FDJ general manager Marc Madiot went on the attack for the material Sky used in their riders' skin suits in Saturday's time trial, which was won by Geraint Thomas and finished with three others Sky riders, including Chris Froome, in the top-10.

The controversy kicked off with Madiot's comments and complaint to the UCI jury on Saturday, but Sky used the Castelli "TT Suit 4.0" kit in the Giro d'Italia time trial – where Thomas finished second after crashing two days beforehand – and in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

"For me, it's quite funny," Brailsford told Cycling Weekly.

"We do our competitive analysis. If anything changes in the WorldTour peloton, I know within 24 hours. And all of a sudden they discover it on the first day of the Tour?

"Come on guys, what are you doing? Either you are doing your job properly or you are not. Either they didn't see at the time or they saw it at the time and didn't raise it, or they just saw it.

"And if they are just seeing it now then what are they doing? Focus on your own team, maybe they need a skinsuit."

Madiot would not comment on it this morning when approached and said to speak with the UCI. The UCI's race jury head on the ground, Philip Marien, said he would not comment on it.

FDJ's performance expert Frederic Grappe told the AFP news agency that the vortex air pellets in the fabric would save Sky 18 to 25 seconds over the 14-kilometre stage one in Düsseldorf.

"It's insane, most people who know about skinsuits know that's just not feasible," Brailsford said of the time advantage claims. "I don't know what wind tunnel they use. If they think they can find those gains then that's pretty something."

Sky, just like with their bikes, has clothing approved by the UCI. Other teams too have had similar developments approved too, with Movistar using a similar specifically added material for time trials and on its road jersey.

Marien told RTBF: "We called the team to speak after the stage. We examined the skinsuit and its [vortex material] integrated into the fabric, it's not really a violation of the UCI rule. We have no way of forbidding it."

The new white jerseys rolled out for the Tour made the material more noticeable than the black jerseys Sky used to use.

Sky came under fire in the past for certain "marginal gains" like bringing a camper to Giro d'Italia for Richie Porte to use. The UCI outlawed the camper, saying riders must sleep in the hotels arranged by the organiser.

French newspaper L'Equipe ran a front page story on Monday that could sway public opinion against Sky.

"EXCÈS DE VITESSE" or "Excessive Speed" it printed over a photograph of Froome. Inside, another article showed Geraint Thomas and a caption over the photograph, "Sky accusée de tricherie" or "Sky accused of cheating."

"I don't think it comes as anything new, we are used to it," Brailsford said of the newspaper headlines.

"It's fun. I'd say, we are very used to it. It's part of the fun of the Tour de France. We love the French. We do. We genuinely do. We love racing in France, love the French people, the French supporters and love the French race."

Thomas after stage two said: "At the end of the day, you can borrow the skinsuit if you want and see what time you do."

Team Sky boss David Brailsford warns his Tour de France rivals not to be fooled, that they are "here to race" as they showed with Geraint Thomas's win in the stage one time trial and three others including Chris Froome placing in the top 10 today in Düsseldorf.

Some questioned Froome's form given his lack of a victory and Critérium du Dauphiné ride ahead of the Tour de France. And of course, Brailsford and Sky have been dealing with the British Cycling and UKAD inquiries in the background.

"What a day!" Brailsford said at the team bus surrounded by celebrating staff.

"We look vulnerable don't you think? That's what everybody's been saying.

"We're on it. Despite what everybody else says. We're here to race now."

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As the rain fell, Sky improved. The dismal day held a rainbow and a pot of gold – or yellow jersey – for the British super team.

Thomas, 44th from last to start, blasted around the 14-kilometre course as if it was dry. Vasil Kiryienka placed third at eight seconds, Froome sixth at 12 and Michal Kwiatkowski eighth at 15.

Seven cyclists crashed on the course, two failed to finish and left the Tour on its first day.

Froome showed that he is ready to defend his title and race for a fourth victory. His rivals in the overall all lost time. Brit Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) came closest at 25 seconds and Australian Richie Porte (BMC Racing) at 35.

The day was a welcome relief for Brailsford after much negative press this winter. And a relief given that its star contender stayed upright.

"It's nice to get a nice steady start. It was nervous, it was a bit edgy watching the lads in the wet and it was a real shame to see Valverde go down. That's quite sad for him, so I hope he's all right."

No one talked about Thomas possibly leading Sky out of the gates of the 2017 Tour de France. Now, the Welshman will head the team riding from Düsseldorf and over the Belgian border to Liège in stage two.

"We talked about this. We had a couple of guys and we thought should we go full-gas, get the jersey or whatever," Brailsford added.

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“Geraint is a mature athlete on top of his game, he had a rough time at the giro but he bounced back physically and mentally needed to get going again.

"You've got to take these opportunities in life when they come along. You can't not be happy for Geraint, he deserves this so much. It's a dream come true for him and us."

Thomas led Sky with Mikel Landa into the Giro d'Italia. However, both team captains crashed in stage nine to Blockhaus. Thomas had to leave for home and abandon his dream of winning the overall a few days later such was pain in his knee.

"At the end of the day we're involved in a sport with wheels and the thing about a wheel is it always turns," said Brailsford. "At one minute you're in the depth of despair and before you know it it's turned around and here we on cloud nine again. That's part of our sport."

Team Sky boss David Brailsford says that the hostilities will be the same in the Tour de France regardless of a recent British Cycling report or an ongoing UKAD inquiry into wrongdoings.

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Last week, an independent review report of British Cycling found a "culture of fear" during the time Brailsford was performance director. Another UK Anti-Doping inquiry into Team Sky continues after reports of questionable TUEs, a medical package delivery and tramadol abuse.

"We were racing there last week in the Critérium du Dauphiné and there was absolutely no change in the support at the side of the road," Brailsford told Sky Sports.

"When we go to the Tour de France every year, ever since we started, it has been a hostile environment for us as a team to go there and win the race, so I expect no difference in that sense."

Fans jeered and, in some instances, punched and threw urine on Sky's riders in the past. Froome had a cup of urine thrown on him mid-stage to Mende in 2015.

Extra police protected the Sky riders at the stage starts and finishes. Officers in blue, and some reportedly undercover, circled the Sky bus.

Attitudes towards the British super team, winners of four tour titles with Froome and Bradley Wiggins, will not be helped by the investigations at home.

"From an investigation point of view, we will wait for the outcome of that, but I am very confident there is no wrongdoing," Brailsford said of the UKAD investigation.

"As far as the Tour de France goes, we are very focused on the race."

Brailsford's initial reaction to the independent report into allegations of sexism and bullying within British Cycling "was disappointing."

"High-performance sport is a tough environment, there is no doubt about it, but it doesn't mean to say you have to neglect the welfare of athletes in any way," he continued.

"You have got to look at yourself in the mirror and take your own responsibility, and my frame of reference will always be to start with myself and think 'Could I have done anything differently, is there anything I could learn from that, and what can I do going forward to make sure that I get better?'

"There are some lessons to be learned but I am very proud of our time at British Cycling and to see how the sport has grown."

Geraint Thomas would have probably continued in the Giro d'Italia despite pain due to Sunday's crash, but Team Sky said that they needed to look after their star rider with other goals like the Tour de France on the horizon.

On Friday morning, instead of racing the 13th stage, Thomas flew from Milan to Manchester for evaluation and rest.

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"The way he dealt with the impact was typical Geraint," team principal David Brailsford said. "Because he deals with those things in a very professional and classy way.

"It's easy to underestimate the impact of a crash because he hit the ground pretty hard, at over 50 kilometres an hour and caused some damage.

"He's is one of the toughest and he can take a lot of pain, he's got a very high pain threshold but at a certain point, you have to take action because he doesn't complain about it.

"Just because he doesn't complain about it doesn't mean it hadn't had an impact."

Thomas left the Giro d'Italia suffering from shoulder, but above all, knee pain due to a crash in Sunday's stage to Blockhaus.

A police motorbike parked on the roadside caused a wave of crashes including Thomas, Sky co-captain Mikel Landa, Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) and Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb). Kelderman, helper for overall race leader Tom Dumoulin, abandoned immediately with a fractured finger.

Welshman Thomas, 31 next week, pushed on earlier this week following the rest day. He nearly won the time trial, but lost time in the next two stages. On Thursday, he could not hold the group speeding to Emilia Romagna for the sprint finish.

"It was not a difficult decision at all [to abandon]. He couldn't continue quite frankly," Brailsford said. "He was in a lot of pain and you can see that from yesterday [stage 12], he was dropped in the final on a flat stage. He was suffering quite a lot and it was quite an easy decision after that.

“It's a disappointing one when you look at the bigger picture. However, he needs to get that knee sorted out and he needs some good medical care, to have a full assessment and treatment.

"We have to look after him and do the right thing and hopefully he bounces back and he'll be looking to do the Tour de France. Brad Wiggins had one of those best performances in the Vuelta a España after he broke his collarbone in the Tour."

Watch: Giro d'Italia stage 16-21 preview

Thomas could be Sky's second classification option in the Tour de France as Chris Froome races for a fourth title. Having another option, as the Giro has shown, is always wise for any team.

"It's too early to say [about the Tour] but we need to get full examination of the injury and after this afternoon we'll be able to assess and recalibrate," added Brailsford.

"But he's in good shape physically so I think you just need to readjust to have a little break mentally as anybody would want to.

"And then you a build up again and hopefully coming to the Tour with the same condition that he had for the Giro which would be pretty exciting."

Sir Dave Brailsford says that he is confident in remaining Team Sky's boss despite increased scrutiny from the British parliament's Select Committee and UK Anti-Doping.

He watched his cyclists ride off to the start of Tirreno-Adriatico's stage three in central Italy on Friday. Geraint Thomas stepped off the bus with a smile, having won the stage on Thursday afternoon in Pomarance.

Brailsford turned his attention to a telephone conversation. The discussion could have been about Thomas's solo win or about an impending, and reportedly damning, independent report into the culture at British Cycling.

"I've got nothing to say," Brailsford told Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews as he headed to the front door of Sky's bus.

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"No," he said when asked if he was thinking about quitting the British WorldTour team that he started in 2010.

"My thoughts are about what's good for the team and what's right. We're just here to win as many races as possible and do it the right way and that's my primary concern and that's what I think about."

Currently the team is under attack and cyclists like Thomas are left to answer the media's questions about issues that revolve around Brailsford, Doctor Richard Freeman and Bradley Wiggins.

Watch: Dave Brailsford questioned by Select Committee

If Brailsford did step aside to allow things to cool down, it is hard to imagine how the ship could still sail without its main architect. Brailsford did not have that answer, either.

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"It's not for me to answer that but it's certainly something that I've worked on for a long time. I would say that it's something personal for me, but it's Team Sky, it's a team and there's a collection of individuals who are all doing a brilliant job and they deserve the opportunity to do their jobs without having to deal with issues that they shouldn't have to deal with," he continued.

"I guess I'm part and parcel of this project but, like I say, from a personal point of view, you've got to put the team first and the riders first, and think about what is good for them and what's good for our owners.

"What is going to make people proud."

Brailsford, 53, looked as fit as ever. Despite the storm brewing at home in Great Britain, he smiled comfortably next to Sky's black bus.

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"I've done it a long time. Managing people has never been easy, never has been. There's always issues. There's always an issue, it's always difficult. Over the years, you learn to deal with that and you try to deal with the issues and do the right thing," he explained.

"I think one of the key things in general is to step back and dispassionately look at the facts. I think that's important so that you don't get caught up in the emotion of it all and react emotionally.

"My job is to oversee and think, what is best for the team now, the partners, the riders and Chris [Froome] and think how do we make sure we perform and win races, which is what we're here to do."

Brailsford's name, though, is in the British daily newspapers frequently, not for the team's performance, but for issues stemming back to the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné and Freeman's actions.

"It appears as though the ship is sailing through the worst of storms with the biggest sporting events like the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France on the immediate horizon that deserve 100 per cent of his attention.

"It's the most high profile [issue yet]. I don't think it's the worst," he added. "It's the most high profile, which adds another dimension to it."

In recent days, more than half of the team's riders wrote in support of Brailsford staying onboard as principal. Chris Froome, who is returning to Europe from a South African training camp, was notably quiet.

The three-time Tour de France winner has reached out to Brailsford. He kept the chat private and said, "We had a good conversation, that's it."

Claudio Lucchini, Sky's bus driver, leaned out the door to get Brailsford's attention. Brailsford, who seemed to be enjoying the chat, turned away and climbed on board for a ride south to the stage finish in Montalto di Castro.

Former Team Sky rider Nicolas Roche has said that he supports Chris Froome's decision not to sign a joint statement backing Dave Brailsford, saying that he would do the same.

Writing in the Irish Independent, Roche, who now rides for BMC Racing, said that "something just doesn't add up" about Team Sky's story surrounding the package delivered to the team at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné.

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"The controversy surrounding Team Sky at the moment, I believe, concerns just a few people but is tarnishing the credibility of anyone who has ever ridden for the team, including me," Roche wrote.

"Almost every day since the story broke, something new seems to emerge: mysterious jiffy bags, missing medical records, stolen laptops, and we all find out about it at the same time from the internet.

"Maybe I don't have all the facts but something just doesn't add up."

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Roche goes on to say that he supports Froome's decision to turn down the opportunity of joining his fellow riders in signing a joint statement in support of Brailsford.

The statement had been intended to be a show of collective support for Brailsford from the team's riders, but was shelved on Tuesday when start rider Froome refused to sign.

"During the week, it was reported that Chris Froome was one of the riders who refused to sign a statement giving his support of beleaguered team boss Dave Brailsford and, in fairness, I probably would have done the same.

"If I've learned anything from the past it's that you can't put your hand in the fire for anyone."

Roche is writing a daily column for the newspaper as he competes in Paris-Nice, which he used on Wednesday to praise fellow Irishman Sam Bennett's stage win, before turning to the subject of his former team on Thursday.

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"As a former Team Sky rider, I already felt obligated to mention the ongoing saga about the team. In fact I would have done it yesterday but I felt Sam Bennett's fantastic win deserved the spotlight more.

"It would make my life a hell of a lot easier if I just put my head down and kept riding my bike, but even though the controversy surrounding Team Sky revolves mainly around the 2011 and '12 seasons - three years before I joined the team - people obviously want to know what I saw in my time there in 2015 and 2016.

"The truth is, in my two years at Team Sky I was never asked to do anything that broke or even bent the anti-doping laws, either legally or ethically."