After months of speculation, rumour and discontented murmuring, it has finally happened. Tom Pidcock, one of Britain's – and indeed the world's – brightest talents, has left Ineos Grenadiers.
When he joined the British team, it looked like a match made in heaven. After the departure of Chris Froome, and Egan Bernal down but not out after a nasty crash, and Geraint Thomas still good but getting no younger – the team needed a new rider who could win on the biggest stages. Preferably with star quality, too.
Enter Pidcock. Supremely gifted, cocky as hell and – never hurts – well capable of pulling a finish-line wheelie as he solos to victory.
Many riders have appeared to find a home from home at Ineos, and they stay for the duration. Witness Thomas, or Luke Rowe (who has just retired), who have spent pretty much their whole careers there. Bernal too, joined in 2018, is contracted till 2027 and doesn't look like upping sticks any time soon.
There was no reason to suppose that Pidcock's relationship with the team would be any different. He spent a year getting his eye in – winning Brabantse Pijl and very nearly Amstel Gold, and then served us all up three great years, with a solo victory on Alpe d'Huez and wins at Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold. He also won two Olympic mountain bike titles during those four seasons, and a CX World Championship win.
Nobody could say that he didn't deliver the goods.
But now, somehow, Ineos Grenadiers have let him go. The team has come in for heavy criticism this season for a perceived lack of results. Not all of it has been fair – after all, the results sheets will show that its riders have amassed a healthy list of wins, including Grand Tour stage victories and major Classics.
However, it is no longer the team to beat. And more than this, it is clear that all is not well within. Morale appears low, major riders and staff members are leaving, and from the outside the whole set-up feels like far more of a closed shop than it has ever been before.
If you've been following what has become a bit of a saga, you'll remember that it began back in July when director of racing Steve Cummings was left at home for the Tour de France, with Pidcock saying the team would "be better" without him there. Anyone who had watched the Netflix series 'Unchained', would have been able to see the tension that seemed to exist between the pair.
Cummings was also left at home for the Vuelta a España, meaning he was not present at any Grand Tours for the team in 2024.
The discontented rumblings continued when he was replaced at the Tour of Britain by Pidcock's own coach Kurt Bogaerts and then, finally, inevitably, Cummings left; he will work for Jayco-AlUla next season.
All this time the transfer rumours had been flying, with Pidcock apparently linked to the Swiss Q36.5 team, and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. All the speculation had left him "mentally frazzled", he said in August.
Now, like Cummings, like Tour de France stalwart domestique Jhonatan Narváez, and like the newly retired Rowe, Pidcock has gone. Even fellow British hope Ethan Hayter will explore pastures new next season, joining Soudal-Quick Step.
Where does this leave the team that was once head and shoulders above the rest? Four key riders have gone, and one sports director. Nobody is irreplaceable, of course, but regaining morale isn't quite so straightforward.
Only recently Pidcock said of the team's season and internal issues: "It’s not what we wanted but I do see a lot of positive changes and, of course, everyone accepts that there are difficulties when you change it and we’re seeing those changes happening. I do hope that it can be turned around."
So perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel. Part of that light could be new 2025 signing Sam Watson, the promising 23-year-old Brit who joins from Groupama FDJ – one of the most inspiring of a group of new names so far lined up to ride with the team in 2025.
Others include former Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Bob Jungels from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and U23 world champion Axel Laurance from Alpecin-Deceuninck.
Ineos also retains Bernal and climber Carlos Rodríguez, with the latter in particular showing great promise in the Grand Tours.
In an age of multiple ultra-budget teams – Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Visma-Lease a Bike, for example – Ineos Grenadiers, as well as fans and media, may have to get used to the idea that it no longer rules the Grand Tour roost.
With this acceptance of a new status quo should come greater openness from the team, and a greater inner peace which, right now, seems to be much needed.
