TEAM INEOS

Team Sky was built around Bradley Wiggins, who came on board after finishing fourth in the 2009 Tour, but in 2010 he suffered from bad form and in 2011 he fell and broke his collarbone in the stage from Le Mans to Châteauroux. It did not show the makings of a great Tour de France team in its first two participations, with its best overall performances being Thomas Löfkvist's 17th in 2010 and Rigoberto Urán's 24th in 2011.

Its maiden Tour in 2010 had got off to an auspicious start, though, with Geraint Thomas finishing second in the cobblestone stage in the Nord and rookie Edvald Boasson Hagen claiming third in the two following stages, foreshadowing the Norwegian's two stage wins in 2011, which saved Dave Brailsford from going home empty-handed a second time. However, the outcome totally changed in 2012: a one-two in the final general classification with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, as well as three stage victories for Mark Cavendish, who in the end felt too hemmed-in in a team set up mainly to win the yellow jersey. Before being knighted by the Queen of England, the multi-medal holder in track events struck the gong to start the Olympic Games in London, wearing a highly symbolic yellow jersey, one week after his Tour de France victory.

The team's dominance continued when Froome took on a leadership role in 2013, but it was briefly interrupted in the 101st Tour de France, which started from Britain in no small part thanks to Team Sky's enormous effort to promote cycling in the country. The defending champion was forced to withdraw after falling in stages 4 and 5, with Richie Porte being unable to fill his boots despite reaching the Alps in second place overall. There was no plan B for the British team, but it resumed its victorious ways with Chris Froome's second triumph in 2015, which he followed up with a third in 2016 and a fourth in 2017. The Kenyan has since added the Vuelta and the Giro to his tally and finished third in the 2018 Tour de France, where he stood on the podium right next to teammate Geraint Thomas, the third British rider to win the Tour de France in the span of six years. Egan Bernal, the 22-year-old Colombian wunderkind who won Paris–Nice earlier this year, is the team's third potential contender for the yellow jersey. The dominant force in the Tour de France throughout the 2010s may have switched its name to Team Ineos, but its thirst for victory remains unchanged.