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Welcome back to Spin Cycle,
With the Critérium du Dauphiné beginning this weekend, signalling the start of Tour de France season, we have updates on the three stars that will be colliding in southeastern France over the coming week. From now until the end of July, it's all about Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.
But before that, Brailsford is making a comeback ...
Death Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Dave 💂♀️
Can you hear that deep rumbling getting closer? That's the sound of Dave Brailsford (maybe) returning to cycling!
According to The Athletic, Brailsford is stepping back from his day-to-day role at Manchester United and returning as Director of Sport at Ineos, which is expected to involve him becoming increasingly hands-on with the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, which he was Team Principal of until 2024.
Having helped install a new executive team at Man United, Brailsford is said to be stepping back in order to give them space to do their job, and with Geraint Thomas apparently set to graduate into a senior management position after he retires at the end of the season, Ratcliffe wants Brailsford to help the Welshman get settled in his new role.
We expect Brailsford returning will also have something to do with the rumoured cash-injection and assimilation with TotalEnergies, but there is no doubt that this is both good for the sport (we smell more drama on the horizon and a return of the nothing-y management-speak we've sorely missed) and for the team.
As we reported in our Skyfall investigation last year, numerous insiders past and present at Ineos said the only change that could bring Ineos Grenadiers back to its former glory was its former manager.
Visma-Leak a Bike Race Line-up? 🚰
If I worked for a cycling team, or any sort of organisation that at times carried any level of sensitive information, I simply wouldn't post on social media.
Which, unfortunately, is what Visma-Lease a Bike's chef Rolf has found out the hard way, posting a photo of his laptop screen seeming to show the eight riders who will be at Visma-Lease a Bike's post-Dauphiné, pre-Tour training camp in Tignes.
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