Ineos Grenadiers are close to agreeing a "multimillion-pound" deal with TotalEnergies, according to a report in The Times on Saturday.
The British WorldTour team, owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, have been public about their need for fresh investment, with the squad employing a global sports marketing agency to help. Last month, Ineos Grenadiers' CEO John Allert told Cycling Weekly that the team had held discussions with "literally hundreds of brands".
According to The Times, the agreement could mean a merger between the two teams as soon as next year, and that it was nearing completion. This builds on a report in Escape Collective in March which revealed that discussions were ongoing. Ratcliffe, who also owns Manchester United, is reportedly seeking to cut his spending in sport - he has this year pulled out of sponsorship of New Zealand rugby, and enacted cuts at United.
TotalEnergies's cycling outfit is currently a ProTeam, while Ineos Grenadiers is on the WorldTour, so any kind of coming together would leave what was TotalEnergies looking for a new sponsor - the current agreement runs out at the end of this year. It is not known how involved the two parties would be in the joint venture, or whether the WorldTour team would be British or French registered; the latter would see an end to Britain's sole WorldTour squad, which began as Team Sky in 2010.
A cycling team partnership would extend existing business relationships between Ineos and TotalEnergies as companies. Ineos has worked with the French petrochemical giant TotalEnergies for a number of years, and in 2024 his company acquired the French company’s petrochemical assets in southern France, having jointly owned them previously.
"It's fair to say that Ineos don't want to spend more money," Allert said earlier this year.
"So it depends entirely on what happens with this commercial activity," Allert said. "They very clearly do want us to be a super team and they know what it takes to be a super team. I'm not going to put a number on that, but it's a number that's greater than what we're currently spending."
An agreement with TotalEnergies could be the answer to that necessary greater investment, although it also poses further questions.
After a disappointing 2024, their worst season on record, 2025 has seen a sharp uptick in the team's form, with 10 victories this year already, compared with 14 across all of last year. This includes WorldTour victories at the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Paris-Nice, Itzulia Basque Country, and the Tour de Romandie.
Ineos Grenadiers were contacted for comment in relation to this story, but declined to The Times
