'We're on the way back': Ineos takes first TTT win in five years at Paris-Nice

Cor Vos

In the five years since the Ineos Grenadiers last won a team time trial, they have gone from being the dominant force in the pro peloton to a team trying to claw its way back to the upper echelons of the sport. On Tuesday, backing new star signings Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley in stage 3 of Paris-Nice, the squad took the victory in a discipline that so often provided the foundation for the huge GC gains of yesteryear.

With a margin of just two seconds, it was a very narrow win over Lidl-Trek, to be sure, and Paris-Nice isn't a Grand Tour – but a win is a win, and this one clearly meant something to an Ineos organization desperate to re-find the magic that has been missing for so long. The team's last TTT win came at the Tour of Britain in 2021, the same year Egan Bernal took the team's most recent Grand Tour win at the Giro d'Italia.

"We've had a rough couple of years, but we're on the way back," head of racing Geraint Thomas said in a post-race interview with Cycling Pro Net. "This is definitely not the end; there’s still a long way to go. But we’ve got a great group of riders and staff, and everyone is motivated and pushing forward."

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