Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos have partnered with Netcompany in an £87million agreement that will see the IT services firm become co-title partner of the Grenadiers grand tour cycling team.
The 73-year-old, who purchased a 25% stake in Manchester United back in December 2023, has agreed to relinquish exclusive naming rights for the Ineos Cycling Team in a multi-million pound arrangement.
Commenting on the deal, he said: "I'm really pleased to welcome Netcompany to the cycling team, establishing a new long-term partnership that will help create the right conditions to deliver more success. This collaboration brings additional resource, technology and capability across performance and operations to give the team the ability to compete consistently at the highest level of the sport."
The Netcompany Ineos Cycling Team will make its bow at next week's Giro d'Italia, representing the first occasion the cycling outfit — formerly known as Team Sky — has taken on an outside sponsor alongside Ratcliffe's petrochemicals empire, with the 73-year-old surrendering exclusive naming rights in the process.
The team was purchased by Ratcliffe in 2019, a full four years before his financial involvement with United. While cost-cutting initiatives were implemented at Old Trafford, Ratcliffe and his team have opted to target a return to the summit of cycling through external investments, having secured early victories in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France with Tao Geoghegan Hart and Egan Bernal.
The substantial financial injection – believed to be €100m (£87m) distributed across five years – could drive the squad back up the rankings to reclaim their previous dominance under the Team Sky banner.
Ineos Grenadiers' director of racing, former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, says the collaboration, which will integrate Netcompany's artificial intelligence software Pulse AI into the team's operations, "gives us confidence in the systems and in the quality of the data and information we're working from in real time, so everyone is aligned and working off the same hymn sheet".
Pulse is described as a "real-time AI-driven digital platform" by Netcompany, whose chief executive Andre Rogaczewski said: "This partnership supports our strategic ambition to accelerate growth across Europe by demonstrating the impact of cutting-edge technology and AI at the highest level of sport."
Netcompany, which already holds contracts with HMRC and Heathrow Airport, joins an enviable line-up of high-profile backers including Alpecin, Decathlon, Red Bull, Emirates and Lidl as principal sponsors or commercial partners of grand tour cycling teams.
The grand tour calendar gets under way in Bulgaria next week with the Giro d'Italia, before the Tour de France begins in Barcelona in July. The Vuelta a Espana rounds off the grand tour season in August, setting off from Monaco.
Thomas added: "From my side, it's about creating an environment where riders can focus fully on racing, while the team around them is connected and making the best possible decisions. If we get that balance right, it will make a real difference when it counts."
