By Matt Lawton for the Daily Mail
Published: 22:00 GMT, 18 March 2019 | Updated: 22:00 GMT, 18 March 2019
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Exactly why their former doctor ordered a batch of testosterone that was delivered to their Manchester HQ remains unexplained but nothing, it seems, can derail Team Sky.
While weeks of preliminary legal argument were preventing lawyers from the General Medical Council interrogating the elusive Dr Richard Freeman in Manchester last month, having levelled the allegation that the banned substance was ordered to enhance the performance of an athlete, Sir Dave Brailsford and his senior riders were persuading Britain’s richest man to replace Sky as their new owner.
It was, sources claim, a brilliantly executed seduction that involved Geraint Thomas taking Sir Jim Ratcliffe for a spin on the climbs out of Monaco.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe will become the owner of Team Sky, to be renamed team Ineos, imminently
Ratcliffe and his son are keen cyclists, we are told. And they obviously enjoyed themselves, with the announcement Team Sky will become Team Ineos next season — as first revealed by Sportsmail — said to be imminent.
It means the biggest budget in professional road cycling, somewhere in excess of £30million a year, is guaranteed, while it is suggested there will be an opportunity for Brailsford to branch into other sports.
Perhaps he will lend his expertise to Sir Ben Ainslie, who will lead Ineos Team UK in their pursuit of the America’s Cup in 2021 with the help of £110m invested by a 66-year-old, who Sportsmail revealed last year would grab at the chance to buy Chelsea at the right price.
As chairman and founder of a petrochemicals giant that has made him £21billion, Ratcliffe is no stranger to controversy.
Sources claim Geraint Thomas took Ratcliffe for a spin on the climbs out of Monaco
