This week on Spin Cycle: Caley, Jonny, and Ronan revisit the story of carbon monoxide use in the pro peloton, discussing Romain Bardet's ridiculously eloquent statements against its use for performance enhancement. The conversation then shifts to Red Bull's sponsorship of the Bora-Hansgrohe team and whether the team is poised to "level up" in the 2025 season after limited financial support from Red Bull in 2024. The hosts highlight the team’s recent hires, Dan Bigham and Johnny Wale, as potential "backroom superstars" who could make a significant impact on the team's performance through marginal gains.

The episode concludes with the news that Trinity Racing, a British Continental team, has shut down. Why didn't INEOS, a team in need of a development squad, partner with them?

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In this special episode, Caley and Jonny are joined by reporter Chris Marshall Bell to take you behind the curtain and onto the cutting room floor of our recent Skyfall feature. We discuss the origins of the story, how it was reported, and dive further into some of its major topics, particularly the relationship between the team and its star rider, Tom Pidcock.

We explore the many factors we believe contributed to the team's decline from their dominant era as Team Sky, investigating how their initial success was built on more than just talented riders but also a pioneering approach to marginal gains that the rest of the peloton eventually caught up with.

We also examine the impact of Dave Brailsford's shift in focus away from cycling, the subsequent power vacuum, and the team's struggle to adapt to the new landscape of professional cycling. The team has failed to develop a pipeline of talent, and it's now paying for it.

From its incarnation as Team Sky in 2010, the team swiftly rose in the sport's ranks, winning seven Tours de France in eight years. But after billionaire Jim Ratcliffe purchased the team and rebranded it as the Ineos Grenadiers, its position atop the sport has eroded – slowly at first but with increasing speed. In just a few years, cycling's once-dominant stage racing team has transformed from an innovative powerhouse into a rudderless corporation, haemorrhaging talent and results despite its massive budget.

To dissect this empire’s collapse, Escape Collective spoke with more than a dozen sources in and around Ineos – former riders and staff, agents, and other well-connected people in pro cycling – to learn what took the team from winning seven Tours de France in eight years to struggling to hold onto talent both on and off the bike.

This is an audio version of the written story on Escapecollective.com now. Because this story is behind our paywall, you will only hear about half of it on this podcast. To listen to the whole thing (or read it), plus get access to everything else Escape makes, sign up here.

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