Ineos Grenadiers look set to run their new development programme in 2025 with the German Continental team Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank.
The WorldTour team was described as ‘Devo Partner’ for the 2025 Tour of Rhodes held in Greece in early March.
Cyclingnews understands that a tie-up with Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank would form an important step in the process that Performance Director Scott Drawer first revealed to Cyclingnews in the summer.
The German squad only have four riders contracted for 2025 according to ProCyclingStats but Ineos Grenadiers could reveal details of their development programme very soon.
“There will be a press release next week, otherwise you would have to contact Ineos if you want to know anything beforehand,” team owner Florian Monreal told Cyclingnews.
Drawer told Cyclingnews that Ineos would invest in a development programme for 2025, with the link to the German team first spotted by Daniel Benson.
“Our owners are hell-bent on developing our own talent. We’re not going to buy the top guys in, we’re going to develop our own,” Drawer told Cyclingnews when he spent several days at the Tour de France. “That’s more exciting for coaches. That’s more exciting for riders.
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“If we’re going to win Grand Tours again, our investment and work has to be on young talent.”
Current WorldTour pros Kim Heiduk (Ineos Grenadiers), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) and Max Walscheid (Jayco AlUla) have come through the long-standing German development team.
Lotto Kern-Haus also previously served in a similar role for Bora-Hansgrohe in 2022. However the now majority Red Bull owned team announcing their own new development team just weeks ago in October.
Ineos Grenadiers have remained an anomaly among top WorldTour teams in recent years by not having a development team or pathway from the junior ranks to WorldTour level. Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE Team Emirates and Soudal-QuickStep all having a team for their best U23 riders to progress before jumping to the top level.
Ineos Grenadiers are finally building a route to the WorldTour for their younger prospects to stem the loss of talented riders to their rivals super teams.
“The traditional pathways of becoming a WorldTour cyclist have changed. It all starts at a younger age. We’re thinking deeply about how to get that right,” said Drawer.
“Rider development will be a big part of the team in the future.”