The revolution started last winter at Ineos Grenadiers is set to experience a new phase, which partly looks back to the past. According to the BBC and The Guardian, Sir Dave Brailsford is reportedly ready to announce his departure from Manchester United to return to his first great love, Ineos Grenadiers.

Brailsford's return to Ineos would be truly significant, as the coach has been a protagonist in one of the most extraordinary chapters of British sports history, in an adventure that began in 2009 as support from Sky UK and then evolved into Team Sky, which became Ineos Grenadiers the following year.

Currently at the helm of the British team is CEO John Allert, with Scott Drawer as performance director, and it is likely that Brailsford will be given a consulting and guidance role for a new arrival, Geraint Thomas. Last February, when opening his season at the Volta ao Algarve, the thirty-eight-year-old Welshman officially announced that 2025 would be his last year in the peloton, and a new technical-managerial adventure might immediately open up for him.

In addition to working alongside Thomas, Brailsford would also have the task of finding new financiers: for months, the Ineos giant has been rationalizing its sports investments - in recent months, there have been stops to the America's Cup project, Formula 1, and the termination of the Tottenham sponsorship contract - and the British team's name has been repeatedly linked with TotalEnergies, another giant in the oil and energy sector with which Ineos has long-standing business relations.

Obviously, the entry of new partners will depend on the cycling market for a team that in recent years has invested heavily in young talents, has many talented riders but no designated captain, and is searching for a leader who can compete at the highest level, especially in grand tours, which have always been the preferred hunting ground for the British formation.