They probably have doubts about Thomas now, and want to ensure they have a British GC contender for the next few years.
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Yup, Thomas near the end, that leaves them with 2 GC guys (Bernal and Carapaz) and no British leaders. Yates makes sense, and I imagine theyâll be keeping an eye on Tom Pidcock as well. Yates needs to prove himself though after the last few years of not doing much.
As a British team, with Froome going, G not getting any younger and TGH not quite a GT contender, I think it makes sense to bring Adam on board. I can see him getting a stab at a grand tour of his choosing next year, especially given that Ineos(Sky) have had success with a two pronged attack in recent years.
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Really, it has been a known unknown for a while. i.e just not confirmed.
Ah, I see you posted the same, ârumored for weeksâ
My take is that Simon is stronger and gets first dibs. Also maybe he has accepted that he doesnât quiet have it to be an out and out leader, although has the talent to âdo a Thomas (âGâ)â if luck and fortune turned his way on a very strong team.
^ This is a very good point, although Iâm not sure Adam is as good as either of those two, okay one G (Froome is obviously up there with the all time bests.) G has always had the ability and accepted standing in the shadows until 2018. I think without bad luck he should have been a two times Grand Tour Winner, Giro?
Adam seems to have lost his way a bit, maybe a change of team is just what he needs, and Sky were after him years ago, but Simon and Adam stayed together. Note, Adam was the stronger early on, but Simon seems to have moved ahead. It will be interesting to see if there is a role reversal.
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I think Brailsford has demonstrated he doesnât really care much for sentimentalityâŚhe wants to win the Tour and he doesnât really who it is with. And the realty is that Yates is gonna rank behind Bernal, Carapaz, Sivakov and others before he gets a shot at leadership, IMO.
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Update!
Froome and G obviously saw that the light at the end of the TdF tunnel was the light of an oncoming train carrying Egan on a stretcher and bailedâŚsorry, strategically agreed to contest other Grand Tours for the good of the team 
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Meanwhile Froome finished in 91st place at Tirreno-Adriatico. Heâs still a shadow of his former self. G finished 2nd but letâs be honest, the fittest racers are at the TdF right now.
Seems the whole squad got lockdown training wrong. Bernal was still their best bet given relative form at the Dauphine but still a shadow of his 2018 and 2019 form. Very surprising given their track record of peaking riders at the right time, they always seemed to be the masters at it. Including the Wiggins Tour-Olympics double and the Froome Tour-Vuelta-Giro triple.
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Not sure we should read too much into this little training jolly. Everytime I tuned in he was either ferrying water up the peloton or chatting with future ISN teammates off the back 
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Certainly not sentimental in terms of team selection. But has still demonstrated a pretty strong commitment to the teamâs original ethos of being built around a core of British riders. 3 British Tour winners, the road captain is British, and about a third of the squad are British. I think Yatesâ nationality would have been a factor in signing him. And maybe in the signing of Porte and Dennis as well, as 2 more riders with English as a first language.
Worth noting the sponsor as well. There were a lot of rumours when Sky pulled the plug that they were in talks with potential Colombian sponsors. If that had happened I think they would have been signing even more young Colombians and maybe fewer Brits. But Ineos are a British company, and the Grenadier is basically squarely targeted as a modern version of the original Land Rover, which is about as British as cars get. Imagine theyâre going to be pretty keen to keep a strong British feel to the team. Theyâre certainly not going to pick a leader purely on nationality, which means Yates is going to be a bit down the pecking order. But reckon theyâll have their eye on young British riders with the potential to become leader on merit. e.g. signing somebody like Tom Pidcock.
Agreed. His TT performance shows that heâs got the watts, is tuning up and just getting the miles in.
Really hope he doesnât go there and become another drone. Type of guy who needs to be let off the leash, like DQS with Remco, and still allowed to do cross
Iâm not sure Remco is let off the leash in any particular way, heâs just stupidly strong.
At the Giro, had Remco not been injured, DQS would have tried to manage the effort and have mountain domestiques, much the same as any other GC team.
Will be interesting to see Pidcock at some of the world tour races. His W/KG is clearly world class, at 56kg though, he might struggle in the flat stages. Fantastic on gravel/CX/Cobbles though. Iâve always marvelled at how he manages to stay with some of his more powerful peers.
Kind of agree, but if he decides he wants to be a GC rider (big âifâ and he may well go in another direction) then drones is the way to go. Weâre seeing it with JV this year - theyâre basically doing exactly what Sky and every other dominant GC team has ever done.
Though do also think that Froome in particular was a much more exciting rider than he was given credit for. Donât think he ever spent a whole Tour just sitting in until the last 500m in the way that Roglic has. When he was dominant he liked to attack earlier on the big climbs and put significant time into his rivals. And had some pretty crazy attacks over the years like when he did a solo attack on a descent, got in a break with Sagan in the headwinds, went for a do or die 80km attack at the Giro, etc. The Wiggins win was the most boring Tour I can remember, but the organisers are largely responsible for that by including so much TTing (and he did at least slightly redeem himself by leading out Cavendish on the Champs Elysee).
He was on team duties so a high placed finish was never on the cards.
NopeâŚPidcock has signed with INEOS for 2021.
Disappointing.
Awww cr@p! In that case, I hope he sticks to the Classics.
Seems like Ineos is very determined to make Ineos British again.
Supposedly thatâs also why they signed Adam Yates