Ratcliffe’s Ineos signs £85m deal with Netcompany for grand tour cycling team
Ineos has struck an £87m deal with Netcompany which will see the IT services firm become co-title partner of the Grenadiers grand tour cycling team.
The Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team will debut at next week’s Giro d’Italia and see the cycling team – once Team Sky – have a third-party sponsor besides Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals firm for the first time.
The team were purchased by British billionaire Ratcliffe, who also owns stakes in Manchester United and the Mercedes Formula 1 team, in 2019 and, having enjoyed early wins in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France with Tao Geoghegan Hart and Egan Bernal, have been on a steady decline across the grand tour calendar since.
The fresh cash injection – understood to be €100m (£87m) over five years – could see the outfit rise in the rankings to their former glory days under Team Sky.
Ineos Grenadiers’ director of racing, former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, says the deal, which will embed Netcompany’s artificial intelligence software Pulse AI within the team, “gives us confidence in the systems and in the quality of the data and information we’re working from in real time, so everyone is aligned and working off the same hymn sheet”.
Ineos get wheels turning on deal
Pulse is a “real-time AI-driven digital platform”, according to Netcompany, whose chief executive Andre Rogaczewski added: “This partnership supports our strategic ambition to accelerate growth across Europe by demonstrating the impact of cutting-edge technology and AI at the highest level of sport.”
Netcompany has agreements already in place with HMRC and Heathrow Airport, and joins the likes of Alpecin, Decathlon, Red Bull, Emirates and Lidl as major sponsors or c-partners of grand tour cycling teams.
The grand tour series gets underway in Bulgaria next week with the Giro d’Italia before the Tour de France begins in Barcelona in July. The Vuelta a Espana concludes the grand tour season in August, setting off from Monaco.
Added Thomas: “From my side, it’s about creating an environment where riders can focus fully on racing, while the team around them is connected and making the best possible decisions.
“If we get that balance right, it will make a real difference when it counts.”