“It’s like Manchester United”: Sir Bradley Wiggins takes shot at Ineos Grenadiers celebrating Paris-Nice stage win “as if they were a French team” + more on the live blog

Just a week after comparing Ineos Grenadiers with Manchester United, Sir Bradley Wiggins is back with more comparisons to the football team struggling under Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s ownership.

Come on Wiggo, United have had a decent week (we beat relegation contenders Leicester City. Oh, and also Real Sociedad to make it to the Europa quarter-finals), let them off the hook…

Appearing on Lance Armstrong's The Move podcast with former US Postal Service directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel, the Tour de France winner and five-time Olympic champion didn’t shy away from ripping into the British squad, which continued its mini-resurgence after a disappointing 2024 season with a stage win at Paris-Nice, thanks to a solo effort from Magnus Sheffield.

And while the team, said to be stuck in a transition phase for the last few years, has recorded four wins so far in the early parts of the road racing season, it is far from the success it enjoyed during its heyday as Team Sky, of which Wiggins was an integral part of.

Commenting on the team’s celebrations, elicited after Sheffield’s first-ever WorldTour victory, Wiggins said: “Ineos used to be a team that aimed to win all three grand tours, and now winning a stage in Paris-Nice is considered a big success.”

“It’s like Manchester United — the whole perception of success has changed. It’s as if they’re a French team now, celebrating a stage win in Paris-Nice. A few years ago, they wouldn’t have even gone for that. It’s remarkable, considering their budget, their riders, and their structure.”

> "Within three years of retiring I was a drug addict": Sir Bradley Wiggins recalls post-cycling "mess" that led to bankruptcy but insists financial woes "resolved"

The comparisons with the beleaguered Mancunian squad, also under the co-ownership of Sir Jim Ratcliffe after his minority stake bid last year, come just a week after he posed similar remarks.

While expressing his disdain for Dave Brailsford, Director of Sport for Ineos (as in, the whole enterprise — cycling, football — all of it) and tasked with rejuvenating Manchester United, Wiggins made light of his ‘Mission 21’ with the 20-time English top-flight football champions.

“Mission 21? More like Mission Championship,” Wiggins sneered, referring to the fact that Ruben Amorim’s side find themselves closer to the relegation zone than to the European qualifications spots.

Wiggins, who’s been faced with financial woes of late, with his unpaid debts doubling to almost two million pounds, did have some good things to say about Tom Pidcock, who left Ineos Grenadiers after a protracted transfer saga to join Q36.5 ProCycling.

He said: “I’m impressed by Tom since he left Ineos. He looks much more mature, as if he’s finally able to take responsibility. I saw the interview where he said he let Ayuso go. Maybe he was a bit surprised, but that’s better than how he handled things in the past. If he can maintain this focus going into the Giro, he can fight for the podium there."

“He’s been presented as the next British winner of the Tour de France. This is his make-or-break year, where he has to prove himself.”

> Tube unions want TfL to ban e-bikes from the London Underground following latest fire