'We've had a rough couple of years, but we're on the way back' - Thomas hopes Ineos TTT win a sign of things to come

Ineos Grenadiers have had a fine start to the 2026 season, picking up nine victories thus far, while their new signings have made an early impact, as evidenced by the squad’s victory in the team time trial on stage 3 of Paris-Nice.

Over the winter period, the team went big on recruitment, picking up two of the standout performers of the 2025 Tour de France, Kevin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley, with the Scot bought out of his Picnic PostNL contract. 

Both have made strong starts to life in Ineos colours, with Onley taking fourth overall at the Volta ao Algarve and Vauquelin delivering the crucial final effort for Ineos to take Tuesday’s team time trial win. It was their first team time trial triumph in five years, and it leaves Vauquelin two seconds off race leader Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek).

“We’ve had a rough couple of years, but we’re on the way back,” director of racing Geraint Thomas told CyclingPro.net after Tuesday’s win.

“There’s still a long way to go, but we’ve got a great team of riders, of staff, and everyone’s motivated, pushing forward.”

Thomas dismissed the idea that it was difficult for Ineos to balance Onley and Vauquelin’s personal ambitions at Paris-Nice. 

“No, there’s no battle between them,” said Thomas. “We saw the way they rode today, they were willing to put it on the line for each other. It’s just amazing to have so many GC guys in the team as a whole."

Both Vauquelin and Onley – third overall at three seconds – are both firmly in the mix at Paris-Nice as the Race to the Sun heads to the high mountains later in the week. 

However, Carlos Rodríguez’s GC hopes are already over. The Spaniard sits in 84th, 3:54 down on Ayuso, after crashing hard on the opening stage, but Thomas praised his performance on stage 3. 

“Fair play to him, he’s in a tough place today after crashing and it’s not necessarily his strength, and with his injuries, it was tough but he gave everything he had.”