'Not so secret weapon' Dave Brailsford welcomed back to Ineos Grenadiers 'with open arms' for Tour de France

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."