The widely rumored future collaboration for the new rider development between Ineos Grenadiers and the German Continental outfit Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank is confirmed in 2025.

The lack of development teams or the lack of a clear path from junior and under-23 ranks to World Tour levels made Ineos Grenadier an anomaly among the top men's teams in recent years. 

However, on Wednesday, the longtime British team was confirmed to continue the overhaul of its key structure in a collaboration agreement with the German-based Continental team. On paper, it is a move that will allow Ineos to parallel the development structure of young riders already taking place in Visma-Lease A Bike, UAE Team Emirates and Soudal-QuickStep.

According to a press release from the Ineos team, "This new partnership has already identified young talent and provided bespoke development support to riders including Josh Tarling, AJ August and Michael Leonard.

"By the 2025 season, the Grenadiers will be expanding their ascent program and expanding this partnership. The partnership will be an important part of the work to develop and prepare young riders for the race at WorldTour level."

Ineos Grenadiers Performance Director Scott Drawer explained that the main riders will be deployed with the German team but will receive support and coaching from Ineos. He likened this to a professional football finishing school or loan club for young athletes before joining the World Tour.

In the summer, Drawer had already strongly suggested to Cyclingnews to create such a project, but Lotto Kern-Haus has already played a similar role with the German world tour team Bora-Hansgrohe, who announced their own development team in 2022. "Our owners are hell bent on developing our own talents. We're not going to buy the top guys, we're going to develop ourselves," Drawer said during the Tour de France. "If we're going to win the Grand Tour again, our investment and work should be on young talent.

Lotto Kern-Haus had previously played a similar role in Bora-Hansgrohe 2 seasons ago. The current world tour pros, Kim Haiduk (Ineos Grenadier), Jonas Lucci (Intermarché-Wanty) and Max Walsheid (Jayco AlUla), have come through a long-standing German development team and Ineos clearly hope there will be more of their ilk in the future. 

"One of the best jobs in cycling is to support and support young cyclists at the start of their careers.1 In my past as Sports director for the World Tour, I have been able to do this several times, but I still have strong connections with many of these athletes," Torsten Schmidt, Head of sports at Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank, added Ineos in a press release. Florian Monreal, team owner at Lotto Kern-Haus PSD Bank, said, "It's so much fun to work with young and motivated riders in the most important U23 races.""And it's always great to see these talents go on a world tour."