Xabier Artetxe was instrumental in the successes of riders such as Egan Bernal and Carlos Rodríguez involved. He looked after Bernal during his victories at the Tour de France 2019 and the Giro d'Italia 2021. Artetxe also played an important role in Bernal's rehabilitation and comeback after his serious training accident at the start of 2022.
"Everything has an end, and after years of hard work, discipline, successes and failures, I'm leaving the team that helped me grow both personally and professionally," Artetxe wrote on LinkedIn and Instagram. He thanked Sir Dave Brailsford, Rod Ellingworth, Tim Kerrison and Fran Millar for giving him the chance to become part of the then Team Sky in 2014. "Without the trust they placed in me, I would never have realised many of my dreams," said the Spaniard.
Successful era with numerous Grand Tour victories
Artetxe looked back on "ten incredible seasons" in which the team celebrated five Tour de France titles, three Giro d'Italia victories and a triumph at the Vuelta a España. There were also several victories in the monuments of cycling as well as world championship titles and Olympic medals in various disciplines. In particular, Artetxe highlighted Vasil Kiryienka's time trial world title in 2015, Egan Bernal's Tour de France victory in 2019 and Giro triumph in 2021, as well as Richard Carapaz's Olympic road race victory in 2021.
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The Spaniard also remembered the late sporting director Nicolas Portal: "I also don't want to forget Nicolas Portal, who was always willing to help me from day one. We quickly bonded and became more than just colleagues. His friendship and energy will always be with me."
New challenges for Xabier Artetxe
Artetxe emphasised that it was now time to "change goals and tackle new challenges and projects that I'm really looking forward to". These challenges would take him out of his comfort zone and help him to develop further - "something that coaches should never forget", said the Spaniard. He made it clear that he is not turning his back on cycling: "Don't think that I'm leaving cycling behind; I will always be connected to this sport because it has always been and will always be my passion."
Upheaval at INEOS Grenadiers continues
Artetxe's departure is part of a major upheaval at INEOS Grenadiers. Steve Cummings had already announced his departure as sporting director at the end of last season. In September, Dan Bigham also left the team to help Red Bull BORA - hansgrohe with his expertise. In his place, Kurt Asle Arvesen was installed as the new senior sports director at INEOS. In addition, Leonardo Basso joined the team as Sports Director (having previously held this role as a freelancer), aero expert Dr Luca Oggiano as Director of Research and Development, Dr Mehdi Kordi as Head of Performance Support and Innovation and Head Coach Tom Helleman (previously with Team dsm-firmenich PostNL).
The season so far has been very successful for the British team. Josh Tarling won the Individual time trial at the UAE TourMichał Kwiatkowski at the Clásica Jaén and Egan Bernal previously won the individual time trial and road race titles at the Colombian championships. According to media reports, INEOS Grenadiers is currently looking for a second sponsor in order to return to the status of a "super team".
