Wurf had to sacrifice important Ironmans for INEOS: “I d

INEOS Grenadiers, shared an interesting perspective on the Rich Roll podcast about his dual role as a high-level cyclist and triathlete. The Australian also discussed some challenges within his team and expressed a desire to set an example for younger riders.
Wurf doesn’t beat around the bush: 2024 wasn’t the best year for INEOS. “It’s a tricky thing. The past few years haven’t gone too well. There are still successes, but compared to winning the Tour, it’s seen as a failure. Our guys are getting publicly criticized, and that does bother me. As a team, we need to figure out how to get the most out of the athletes.”
“After so much success, you tend to keep working the same way, but other teams have changed quite a bit in their preparation. So, we need to modernize and break a bit from the past. I don’t mean copying others, but rather trying to lead the way again. Though, there has been some sheer bad luck, with the crashes of Egan Bernal and Chris Froome,” he rightly points out.
“We have the group and staff for it. Take Magnus Sheffield: he’s always reading, learning and improving himself. I’ve never done that — I’ve always surrounded myself with people who are good at that. But I’m certain we can bounce back,” the experienced Aussie believes.
Then there’s the Tom Pidcock situation, where there was talk of a potential departure for some time. “Tom has focused on things other than winning the Tour: he’s now, at his age, won gold at the Olympics for the second time. Q36.5 made sense since the owner of that clothing brand also owns Pinarello. And they could build a team around him like Van der Poel has with Alpecin-Deceuninck. But he remains one of the riders who can win races for INEOS Grenadiers.”
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