team sky · History

The National Cycling Centre in Manchester, the indoor velodrome opened in September 1994 as the first covered track in the United Kingdom, was Team Sky’s base from the start. Next to the headquarters of British Cycling, it housed the offices of the British road team that Tour Racing Ltd launched in 2010. The team’s logistics base was in Deinze, Belgium. It raced as Team Sky until 2019, became Team Ineos in May of that year, Ineos Grenadiers from August 2020 and Netcompany INEOS from May 2026.

Origins: British Cycling and BSkyB

The team was announced on 26 February 2009, with BSkyB as main sponsor. The project was driven by British Cycling figures such as David Brailsford, the federation’s former performance director, and Chris Boardman, who persuaded the broadcaster to fund a British squad able to contend for Grand Tours. Brailsford took charge of the team. Its first race came in January 2010 at the Cancer Council Helpline Classic in Adelaide, Australia, and ended in victory, with Greg Henderson winning and Chris Sutton second. That same year Juan Antonio Flecha won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The first season also brought a bitter episode: the team withdrew from the 2010 Vuelta a España after the death of soigneur Txema González.

Wiggins and the first Tour (2012)

The breakthrough came in 2012. Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France, the first British rider to do so. In October that year the team parted ways with doctor Geert Leinders, over allegations linked to his time at another team, and with sports director Sean Yates. Wiggins stayed with the squad and in 2014 became world time trial champion, bringing the team its first rainbow jersey.

The Chris Froome years (2013-2018)

Chris Froome took over as leader and won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2017 he also won the Vuelta a España that same summer, and in 2018 he took the Giro d’Italia, holding three consecutive Grand Tour titles. On 17 July 2019 he was also awarded the 2011 Vuelta after Juan José Cobo was disqualified. A salbutamol reading above the threshold at the 2017 Vuelta, notified to him on 20 September that year, led to a case the UCI closed on 2 July 2018, after WADA accepted that the result did not constitute an adverse finding. In the Classics, Wout Poels gave the team its first Monument at Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2016, and Michał Kwiatkowski added the second at Milan–San Remo in 2017.

Thomas, Bernal and a change of ownership (2018-2019)

In 2018 the Tour changed hands within the team itself, with Geraint Thomas taking the yellow jersey to Paris. In December that year Sky announced it would end its ownership after the 2019 season. On 19 March 2019 the sale of Tour Racing Ltd to Ineos, the chemicals group run by Jim Ratcliffe, was confirmed, with Ineos as sole owner and Brailsford still in charge. The new name, Team Ineos, took effect on 1 May 2019 and made its debut at the Tour de Yorkshire. That July Egan Bernal won the Tour de France, the team’s seventh victory in the eight editions held between 2012 and 2019.

Ineos Grenadiers and Netcompany INEOS (2020-2026)

On 22 July 2020 another name change was announced, to promote the Grenadier 4x4 built by Ineos Automotive. From the start of the Tour de France on 29 August 2020 the team raced as Ineos Grenadiers, swapping black and burgundy for a dark blue kit. In October that year Tao Geoghegan Hart won the 2020 Giro d’Italia, and Egan Bernal won the race in 2021. The team, which rides Pinarello bikes and races in the UCI WorldTour, announced a five-year sponsorship deal with Danish technology firm Netcompany on 28 April 2026. Ineos kept control, and the squad became Netcompany INEOS, in a new kit, from the 2026 Giro d’Italia.