Geraint Thomas has signed a new two-year contract with the British team and will remain with Ineos Grenadiers for 2022.
Thomas, the 2018 Tour de France winner, revealed in October that he had reached an agreement to remain with Ineos, but he had not yet exchanged pen and paper, admitting it would be "the worst thing to start over."
On Monday afternoon, the Ineos Grenadiers acknowledged that Thomas would remain with the team for the next two seasons. Thomas, a native of Wales, has been with the team since its inception as Team Sky in 2010.
Thomas was left out of the Ineos team for the 2020 Tour de France and crashed in the following Giro d'Italia. After winning the Tour de Romandie and finishing third in the Criterium du Dauphiné, Thomas started the 2021 Tour as one of the team's four leaders, but an early crash cost him the race.
"Obviously the end of 2021 was tough, but until the crash at the Tour I was in the best shape I've ever been in. I'm still highly motivated to perform in big races," Thomas said.
"I'm also thinking about racing the Ardennes. It's exciting and new, and hopefully I'll have a big run in the Tour." [Adam Yates, Richie Porte, and Daniel Martinez are also talented stage racers. Bernal, who won this year's Giro, is expected to return to the Tour in 2022.
"I am very excited about the last few years of my career with this team. That's what I'm looking forward to the most," Thomas said. But it's equally important to be part of a winning team and to have fun with the best of the best, and I need to do my best to do that."
Just as Ben Swift took two seasons off with UAE Team Emirates, Thomas is the only athlete to have been with Sky/Ineos for all 12 years of its existence and has seen the team develop over that time. 7 of the 8 Tours between 2012 and 2019 Ineos' domination of three of them was halted by the consecutive victories of Tadei Pogachar and the overall strength of the Jumbo Visma team led by Primoš Roglic.
"The team has evolved a lot in the last 12 years. The atmosphere in Mallorca (training camp) is different from the last few years, with young, new players and fresh faces," Thomas said. Everyone is excited about moving forward as a team. I want to play an important role in that."
This weekend it was announced that longtime team manager Dave Brailsford will take on a new position as Ineos' sports director, overseeing the sponsor's various sports operations. Brailsford will continue in his role with the cycling team, while Rod Ellingworth will assume the title of deputy team principal.
"G has been with us since the start. He has won big races, mentored young riders, been a great ambassador for the sport, and overall has helped inspire countless people to ride bikes," Ellingworth said
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"We know, and so does he. He is hungry for more success at the highest level. Next season will be a real battle. The competition will be more intense than ever. We will do our best as a team and G will be a big part of that for us."
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