Team Sky likely to become 'Team Ineos'

Speculated upon in various sources including yesterday's The Cycling Podcast, Cyclingnews has gone one step further and all but confirmed chemical company Ineos will step in to save Team Sky in 2020.

Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome on the final 2018 Tour de France podium in Paris. (Getty) Source: Getty

Controlled by rich Brit Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos is one of the world's largest petrochemical companies and has skin in the sports sponsorship game, stumping up a reported $153m (USD) for a UK tilt at the 36th America's Cup in 2021. 

Sky's current budget is said to be around $65m AUD per year. 

While Team Sky refused to comment on Cyclingnews' latest report, the publication said 'several sources' had confirmed the news and cited Spanish newspaper Marca's report that Sky DS Matteo Tosatto confirmed at the UAE Tour the team had secured a new title sponsor post-2019.

A Brexit backer, Ratcliffe resides in Monaco, like Chris Froome, and is rumoured to have a passion for cycling. 

Many in the cycling Twitterati spotted overnight holding domain names (blank pages at teamineos.com, teamineos.co.uk) and a Twitter account (since deleted), all of them not to be confused with the America's Cup team Ineos Team UK.