And it’s going to have a huge budget. How long before there’s a team budget cap in cycling?

Since Ineos is in the oil industry, team motors will be gas powered from now on...

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I know this is really Lavender Room material, but this little gem from the article linked in the OP was really too precious not to be noticed:
"Ratcliffe, a prominent backer of Brexit, has moved to Monaco in order to save up to £4 billion in tax."
Yay patriotism! :-)

Let's bet for the new team colors

Looking at their web site, I see 3 possibilities :

1) company America's cup boat is Black/White/Red : could be the same.

maybe they could also push their 2 sports programs for kids

2) one logo is pink/green/blue

3) other logo is pink/green/yellow

https://www.ineos.com

Or : black + some white & red, showing the 2 logos of their sport program (would make sense to push them)

If they wanted to keep him (and others like him), they should have lowered his taxes. This is what happens when class envy demands confiscatory taxation of the rich. (The rich have the money to move, if they want.) I'm not sure I would enjoy Monaco, but if it meant keeping 4 billion? I would load the moving van before sundown! I can't fault the guy for leaving.

What, to zero? Because that's what Monaco's personal income tax rate is, provided residents abide by the "6 months + 1 day" rule.

The irony, as you may appreciate, lies in the fact that Mr. Ratcliffe so strongly advocated for the UK to leave the EU, only to then pack up and leave for greener pastures in a place that is part of [gasp!] the Schengen Area and the EURO zone the brexiteers despise so much.
But you are quite right of course, he and others like him won't be the ones who will have to pay the price for the idiocy they helped initiate.

This is an international team, not a British team. So what is the problem with Mr Ratcliffe living in Monaco???

I congratulate the team management on finding a new sponsor so quickly and without the stresses that several other world tour teams have had in this process recently.

And finally, I find myself admiring Jim Ratcliffe for spending his money supporting two of his passions in life - sailing and cycling - good on him, self made man, let him spend his money as he sees fit.

Totally agree, which of us wouldn't be packing our bags for the much money..seriously people.

I find the fuss over the shock horror...petro chemical angle quite amusing since we already have various governments with questionable human rights records, a mining company and a Russian mining conglomerate involved in cycling. Take your fake outrage elsewhere people.

Nothing at all. My observation had nothing to do with Mr. Ratcliffes sponsoring a cycling team. He can spend his money any which way he likes.
I merely found it ironic that someone who is such a strong proponent of Brexit performs his own personal exit from Brexit and settles in the EUROzone, of all places.

In french we say : "les conseilleurs ne sont pas les payeurs"

Froome and Thomas are also leaving in Monaco. if I remember well :-)

So it is a Monegasque team

russ wrote:

Take your fake outrage elsewhere people.

Oh shoot, not allowed to have faux outrage? Can I have a bemused ironic smirk over Sky's anti-plastic ocean cleanup campaign last year complete with marine mammals on kit. And now being owned by a plastics company. The link proposes cutting down on plastic use. Somehow I'm guessing team Ineos won't be participating again.

Please, please, please leave any mention of Brexit out of this forum, I th8nk everybody is very bored of that topic..........Jim Ratcliffe is very welcome to his political perspectives, but let’s all try to forget about politics when talking about sport.

We should all thank him for saving one of the greatest world tour teams and for being willing to spend a big chunk of his hard earned cash every year for the foreseeable on a sport we all love.

I don't mind (excepting my sarcasm above). But I think it'll be good for the health of professional cycling if it could get away from dependence on affluent vanity-celebrity sponsorships. James Murdoch, Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Rihs, Oleg Tinkov et al.

I'd prefer that it be supported more by grass-roots long-term business relationships. I'm not sure if it'll ever get there. But it'd be nice.

So it's great that cyclists will get their paychecks. But I'm not going to thank the celebrity for being a "savior."

Kiatkowski lives in Monaco.

For sure, no more anti-plastics marine mammals on the kit this year :-)

Promoting sports for kids (2 programs, as per their website) is more politically correct and I would bet on this (as side comm programs)

how much do you pay in taxes? I pay up to 40% and unfortunately dont have the resources to move to monaco, just trying to see why he should be allowed to spend his money as he likes and I cant..

Welcome to the real world!

He is a self made man, has undoubtedly worked hard and paid his taxes along the way - if I was in his position I would also be in Monaco reducing my tax bill and having some fun spending some of my billions on some very interesting sports teams. We are all jealous for sure, it is the stuff of dreams, but just because we don’t have what he has it doesn’t mean we should bag him for it.

Oooh I love the term self made. Did he not profit off of NHS, well educated people from public schools, infrastructure? Did no one help him along the way who also benefited him? I could give a rates arse about him partnering with Sky. Frankly, I like them. The self made term is so wrong though.

I wonder if Ratcliffe realizes that he will have to give up his British citizenship to stay in Monaco ?

and of course he isn't a self-made man, his entire enterprise and personal wealth depends upon the rule of law that the little people left behind in the UK are still paying for with their taxes.
He grew up in a council house - that is, public housing subsidized by the taxes paid by the little people. He graduated from University of Birmingham, a public research university - that is, a school which is funded with the taxes paid by the little people. Nothing in his life would have been possible without other people's money and support.

It seems that some bitter, twisted and very ill informed (FYI you don’t have to give up your UK citizenship to be a tax resident in another tax jurisdiction - I should know, because I pay my taxes in a country where I am not a citizen) socialists have taken this thread way off the track!

Course he wants Brexit. No more nasty restrictive EU environmental legislation to have to meet in a fundementally dirty industry.

Cadmium ? Yep put in kids toys.
Asbestos ? Wonder material let's use it EVERYWHERE.
Dumping waste in rivers and seas. What's the problem with that ? Thw Victorians did it. Never did them any harm.
Raw sewerage into the sea just 200yds off the beach ? Something to chew on when swimming.

And lots more things the EU stopped Britian doing.

EDIT.
Forgot to mention hes got fracking rights to swathes of England.
No wonder he's moved to Monaco - he's not going to want to be drinking water that's been poisoned by his company's activities, or food stuffs with toxins that too.

Apparently... everyone is not bored of Brexit. Personally, I find the Jim "self-made man" Ratcliffe irony a fun new approach to thinking about Brexit. Icing on the cake that he's taking over a team that last year publicized the issue with single-use plastic/the oceans (although, really, that's probably part of why he wants to do it).

At any rate, I'll never get the "leave politics out of sport" thing. What else am I supposed to think about on long runs?

Wandering if Astana is also going to change its name, as the capital of Kazakstan (Astana) just changed its name for : Noursoultan

So, two of the most successful World Tour teams will now be re-named Team Ineos and Noursoultan ?

Petrol is not dead :-)

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/...ally-launches-421914

I dunno about red & black

Not a winning combination lately: Trek, BMC/CCC ... who else is on a losing streak?

Interestingly, live pix from Tour of Romandie show them in all-black kits, wearing their old SKY lids with the BLUE highlights

https://twitter.com/TeamINEOS

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Those kits were one off for Romandie ahead of Yorkshire press release. The Yorkshire kits are the official new kits for the rest of the year likely.

And the Pinarello F12 is launched. Agreed about not necessarily being a fan of the red/black.

not a fan of the kits. i'll admit that i'm not a fan of sky/ineos, but I have to admit the old sky kits were pretty awesome.

"Ineos train". Blah, not nearly as catchy as the sky train. But just as easy to cheer against.

Caley Fretz quoting Jonathan Vaughters speaking about Dave Brailsford: "that guy can reach into a toilet and pull out chocolate".

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Lose one billionaire sponsor and immediately find an even richer billionaire sponsor in a couple of weeks.

Pay world beaters like Kwiato, Kiryienka, Castroviejo, Henao and Wout Poels millions a year to get Chris Froome bottles.

Shack up with British Cycling and enjoy a colossal taxpayer-subsidized farm league free of charge.

Need another young GC guy? Just double Egan Bernal's offer from another team and call it a day.

Need strategy? Put six guys, all of whom would be team GC leaders on any other team, on the front and hammer until everyone else is gone, then have Froome launch an elbows-out, pigeon-toed 647.2 watt attack for 4min 31sec and pass the lead group 147.893 meters from the finish line. It's thrilling sport at its best!

Ensure the TdF remains a ridiculously predictable, lifeless, Ineospython-strangled procession for the next decade or so. What fun! What spectacle!

We still get the excitement of seeing which Ineos rider will take the GC though! Will it be Froome or Thomas? Could Bernal be this year's dark horse to take yellow into Paris? /pink

Watch the Giro instead, way better race and not predictable like the TdF

Even easier.

Just when you thought the Murdoch empire was ethicless, along comes Inneos to take the lack of any ethics or shame in the pursuit of profit to a whole different level.

As others have said elsewhere... Inneos and cycling... it's just Greenwashing for a dirty environment-raping empire.

No it’s not. The term is what the term is. Self made means he worked for it. He didn’t get his money the old fashioned way by inheriting it. No one has ever said besides apparently in this thread that he did everything himself to make money. That’s never what that term meant.

Haha. Alright tiger. I was specifically replying to a different poster describing him as that and questioning the description. Questioning it has no insinuation that he didn't work hard. I actually like the team and have no problem with the owner despite the reasons many are bringing up against his company.

The term does have a specific meaning though and it is one that negates all of the others involved in the foundations of success. I bet he is intelligent, educated and works hard. It isn't a singular effort though. Simple

 “I’m really liking the new team sponsor , Froome said Wednesday at the team presentation. “The new sponsors anti-eco philosophies mean that we don’t have to worry about the environment so much. I was really sick of not being able to throw water bottles on the ground. Now that we can go back to doing that I’ll be much happier and should be able to climb better. After all, what’s a few water bottles thrown across the French countryside when China throws out 10 zillion tons of the stuff in the Pacific ocean every year. “

I guess you must have predicted Thomas winning the TdF last year, and Froome making up a 5 minute deficit to win the Giro after launching an attack from 80km out? You must make some good money from sports betting.

Historically haven't all (non-cycling) company sponsors been by virtue of the fact that either the owner or 'CEO' has an interest in cycling?

Brooklyn Chewing Gum, Bic, Molteni, ADR, Super Confex, Bora Hansgrohe, Quick Step Floors...the list is endless.

---

29 years and counting

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw7WViHldoN/

Astana, Ineos, Sky, Saxo, Tinkoff, Prince Khalifa.

Yes, but that's my point. Those are personality-based rather than market-based. So while some, like Quick-Step, are in for the long haul, there tends to be a lot of overall disruption as the whims of personalities change. I think there's certainly a place for cycling being the plaything of the super rich. Cheaper than Formula 1 or futbol. But making it the predominant form of most team funding makes for a lot of instability.

I always thought teams and/or riders should share in media rights so they have revenue streams independent of those personalities. But the ASO and the other race promoters will hold that to the grave.

Labeling anyone who disagrees with you "socialists" is being somewhat small minded. It's what Donald Trump does, label everyone who doesn't agree with him or support him. Just saying.....

---

Colorado Triathlon Company, CO2UT 2021, Crooked Gravel 2022, Steamboat Gravel 2022