With Sir Dave Brailsford and his “marginal gains” magic driving British cyclists to heights thought impossible for those from these shores winning 16 Olympic gold medals in two Games, and then six of seven Tour de France titles through Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.
Team Sky, now rebadged as Ineos Grenadiers, finished sixth in team standings and their best rider Thymen Arensman was 12th overall.
Thymen Arensman finished his first Tour de France in 12th overall (Photo: Getty)Adam Blythe was a member of the British Cycling academy programme and rode against Team Sky during their peak years as a professional racer on the road from 2010 to 2019.
“They had better coaches, all the staff, the nutrition. They had a deeper understanding of how to get the best out of each person and their attributes.
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Brailsford’s philosophy, based on the idea that even minute changes to seemingly insignificant parts of the team could make a tangible difference to performance, gave Team Sky an advantage over the field – but it wasn’t all they had.
As well as paying himself a healthy salary – he reportedly insisted that no rider should be paid more than him, a system that earned him as much as £4m a year – Sky were able to bring in the best riders at will, and then pay for the best staff and equipment to support them.
“You got paid a fortune. You had the best equipment, you had the best coaches, the best staff. So as a rider, you’re like, ‘I’m going to get better as a bike rider, I’m going to get paid handsomely, and I’m going to progress in a team where it’s super cool.’
Brailsford is ‘no expert’ in cycling
Chris Froome, riding for Team Sky, won seven Grand Tours (Photo: Getty)Brailsford was a key part of that factory line from British Cycling to Team Sky, leaving the former to work on the professional cycling tour full-time in 2014.
“Dave is just someone that’s good at surrounding himself with good people,” says Brian Smith, himself a former rider in the 1990s but then a general manager across three different pro teams during Team Sky’s heydays. He now works as a commentator and pundit.
“Luckily he got Wiggins and Froome coming along, and they were the best at what they did. Then it was just a case of they had the money, so just buying all the other personnel that goes with it, simple as that. Then there comes a time where you have to be thinking of the future and who to bring in.”
The next Tour de France winner
“I used to give Brailsford a few tips of riders, and one of them was Primoz Roglic, and he never went for it,” Smith adds.
“All Team Sky did was buy the good riders, and not look at the talent. They’ve never had a proper development team and have never looked at that.
“Every team has to be able to recruit, if they’re looking to win the Tour. Where’s the next Tour de France winner? Where are you going to find them? There’s a lot of small races, and you have to communicate with a lot of people at these races and watch these races and see how these young lads are doing.”
"Great for him and great for the team"Daniel got reaction from Geraint Thomas after his teammate, Thymen Arensman, won Ineos' first Tour stage for two years #TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/c2V5ZdbWzO
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 19, 2025“The one thing that Ineos are missing is recruiting riders early and getting the younger talent in,” he says.
“But teams and riders caught up, and more teams then started to get a lot more money than they did.
“Ineos and Sky were still very much ‘We can still do this with the riders that we’ve got’ and it came to the point where the other riders are, but it started to become very apparent that they were clearly better.”
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Even the return of “not so secret weapon” Brailsford from his 18-month stint trying to fix Manchester United.
“If you look at the Tour de France, for example, Arensman won two stages still. So it’s a huge success for any team,” Blythe adds
When you are used to winning, second place feels pretty bad.
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