Egan Bernal may well have accidentally revealed Ineos Grenadiers’ new kit for the 2024 season over the weekend.
The Colombian shared an image of a new jersey on his Instagram story before swiftly removing it from his profile. The jersey was clearly different from that which Ineos wore in the 2023 season and was manufactured by Bioracer.
Cycling Weekly learned on Monday afternoon that Bioracer has parted ways with Ineos Grenadiers bringing an end to the brand's two year association with the British team.
A spokesperson for the brand confirmed that it was an amicable decision between the two parties.
It's understood that Bioracer has scaled back its sponsorship commitments due to a downturn in the cycling industry following the Covid pandemic.
New kit launches are a big deal for all of the major WorldTour teams and often occur in the pre-Christmas period.
Bernal’s story appeared to come from an event at which he was present. It showed his Pinarello Dogma race bike leaning against a poster on a stand which featured an image of the former Tour de France and Giro d’Italia champion.
Despite Bernal deleting the story from his Instagram profile, screenshots had already begun to circulate online.
Although more noticeable was the orange jersey hanging from the bike's saddle which clearly featured the logo of the Spanish kit supplier Gobik. The jersey lacked the same diamond pattern on the sleeves which featured on their 2023 Bioracer supplied kit and instead featured a vertical fade with blue tint.
Ineos Grenadiers has not yet announced a new kit deal with Gobik, nor that the team has parted ways with the Belgian brand Bioracer. Gobik supplied the Movistar team with kit for the 2023 season.
Ineos have worn Bioracer kits for the last two seasons and previously wore kits made by Italian giants Castelli as well as Rapha.
When the team's deal with Bioracer was announced, Dave Brailsford said: "We share a common sense of adventure, a desire to innovate and do things differently, but above all we have a passion for cycling and racing."
When approached by Cycling Weekly in relation to the team parting ways with Bioracer Ineos Grenadiers said 'no comment'.
A well-informed source told Cyclingnews that Gobik would work with Ineos Grenadiers. A report from Wielerflits also stated similar.
Meanwhile it was recently confirmed that Ineos deputy team principal Rod Ellingworth had resigned from his post on the team.
The 51-year-old, who was involved in the original set up of Team Sky in 2009, was largely in charge of the Ineos cycling project from 2021.
