After dominating several of the great stage races, Ineos-Grenadiers did not have a good season this year. He couldn’t win any of them: Geraint Thomas was second in the Giro d’Italia, behind Primoz Roglic, and Carlos Rodríguez was fifth in the Tour de France. In the Vuelta a España there were no riders in the top ten.
That, added to the fact that the Colombian Egan Bernal, one of the most important cyclists on their team, is still recovering from the serious accident on January 24, 2022, which almost cost him his career and his life, which has made Ineos try to look for names in the market.
Ineos is forced to reinforce itself after the departure of three very important cyclists: the British Tao Geoghegan Hart will leave for Lidl-Trek; The Frenchman Pavel Sivakov will go to the UAE and the Colombian Daniel Felipe Martínez He will be with Bora-Hansgrohe in 2024.
The team wanted to fish in a troubled river, taking advantage of the imminent merger of the Soudal-Quick Step with the Jumbo-Visma. The Slovenian Primoz Roglic announced the departure of the second formation. “I can confirm that I will be leaving the team, but we will only communicate more about this after all the competitions that I will continue to participate in,” Roglic told Cycling Pro Net.
Some rumors linked him to an alleged interest from Ineos, as well as press reports claimed that there were contacts with Tadej Pogacar. “They asked me if he was a free agent and I told them no, he has a contract. If they want to sign him, they have to talk to Mauro Gianetti,” Alex Carera, Pogacar’s agent, told the Spanish newspaper Marca.
Surprise: Ineos was asking about Juan Ayuso
Now, La Gazzetta dello Sport revealed that Ineos was also asking about one of the Spanish cyclists with the greatest international projection, Juan Ayuso. There were already contacts, according to that source, through two agents during the dispute of the recent Vuelta a España.
However, the possibility of Ayuso was ruled out: the 21-year-old rider has a contract until the end of 2018 with UAE Team Emirates, his current squad.
The Soudal-Jumbo merger could then open the doors of Ineos to another figure, Remco Evenepoel. But the Belgian has a contract for three more seasons.
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