Ratcliffe offers ‘full support’ to Brailsford in Freeman row
Team UK patron reflects on three months in New Zealand and rumours of a one-off match in the Isle of Wight next year
Ineos co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has given Sir Dave Brailsford his “full support” in the wake of the Richard Freeman medical tribunal scandal.
Freeman, the former Team Sky and British Cycling doctor, was found guilty by a medical tribunal of ordering banned testosterone “knowing or believing” that it was intended to dope an athlete, at a time when Brailsford was performance director of both.
No athlete was named by the tribunal and no evidence of doping was found. But there have been calls for Brailsford, now Ineos team principal, to be suspended pending a full investigation. Brailsford has not spoken publicly since the ruling on March 12, but has claimed in the past he knew nothing about the order.
Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, said when he took over in May 2019 that he would withdraw his funding if he ever found that doping had taken place on his watch.
“This happened, what, 10 years ago?” Ratcliffe told The Daily Telegraph. “My principal concern is where we are now and how we conduct ourselves. I was very clear, from the beginning, that if there was ever any sense of that going on in our team, I’d walk away immediately. Nothing’s changed in that regard. In my opinion, you haven’t accomplished anything if you’ve done it by cheating. There’s no honour in that.”
Ratcliffe said Brailsford retained his full backing. “We’ve all got antenna haven’t we?” he said. “And your antenna starts pinging if you’re uncomfortable about something. My antenna doesn’t start pinging away when I’m chatting today to Dave. Quite the opposite.
“I also know the riders. I know Chris Froome, I know Egan [Bernal] and Geraint [Thomas]. I’d be astonished if there’s any of that going on.
“I like Dave. I think he’s a very straightforward northerner. I think he’s accomplished a lot. The marginal gains stuff isn’t fiction. He is a workaholic. He is present at the [races] for 220 days a year in his caravan. I mean, that’s utter dedication, to the detriment of his own health and family life. So, that’s the side of Dave I see. He has my full support.”
‘To take on the best in the world, on our home waters, 171 years on, would be quite something’
In the end his famous “£110million gin and tonic”, the drink over which Sir Jim Ratcliffe looked into Sir Ben Ainslie’s eyes and agreed to back his America’s Cup team, did not yield the Auld Mug. But nor, apparently, did it leave a bitter aftertaste.
“It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable experience,” says Ratcliffe, reflecting on three months in New Zealand watching Ainslie’s team trying, but failing, to become the first British winners of sport’s oldest international trophy. “We’ve had a great time.”
So great, in fact, the journey is continuing. Ratcliffe, the founder and co-owner of petrochemicals giant Ineos and Britain’s richest man, with a personal wealth estimated at £17billion, has now agreed to underwrite Ainslie’s next America’s Cup campaign, too.
More than that, Ratcliffe and his advisers have been influential in helping to secure Challenger of Record status for Ineos Team UK, a status that bestows certain privileges upon the challenging yacht club and should in theory help Britain’s chances of ending 170 years of hurt.
Ineos and holders Team New Zealand, who accepted the challenge after wrapping up a 7-3 victory over previous challenger of record Luna Rossa in the 36th Cup match last week, have already made a few announcements regarding their intentions for the next Cup. These include continuing with the 75-foot foiling monohulls for at least two more Cup cycles as well as various cost-cutting measures designed to attract new blood.
But what has really got everyone talking in America’s Cup land, and what I am wanting to discuss with Ratcliffe, are the rumours of a special, one-off match between New Zealand and Britain in the Isle of Wight next year.
Is the America’s Cup coming home? Ratcliffe says he is unsure. “I’d love to see it happen,” he says. “I think it would be quite magical to have it in the UK after all this time, particularly after Covid. It would be a big thing for the UK, I think. But ultimately it’s up to the Kiwis.”
The idea, if it is agreed, would involve the defenders and the COR facing off in a special series at the midway point between now and the next “full” America’s Cup in 2024, which will almost certainly be back in Auckland. It would likely be highly controversial, excluding as it does any other challengers. And there are many in New Zealand who would prefer not to see the Cup risked in a series abroad. But Ratcliffe is hopeful the idea will gain traction, insisting it would be in everyone’s best interests.
“The fact is,” he says, “New Zealand are a commercially funded team. Grant Dalton, their boss, does not have an Ineos. This event, if it happens, would be a platform, which might help them raise funding to keep that team together.”
Ratcliffe says he would not fund the event himself. “Absolutely not,” he says. “I want to be clear about that. Because that would be sort of like buying the Cup into the UK, and I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
As defenders and event organisers, though, Dalton would be able to negotiate with commercial partners and local government, charge a hosting fee, deal with broadcasters and so on.
Ratcliffe even suggests the UK Government might be quite keen to support a prestigious global sporting event in that neck of the woods. “There have been many instances where governments have put some money down to attract the Cup to the country because it’s good for regeneration,” he says. “I mean, the Isle of Wight and that part of the south coast is not in a great state, so it would bring a bit of a rejuvenation to that area. Why not?
“I honestly think it would be a
great success. You have to remember, due to Covid last year, which forced the cancellation of two planned events (in Cagliari and Portsmouth) nobody in the northern hemisphere has yet seen these boats in action live. They are absolutely incredible, believe me. I think people would be blown away, sailors and non-sailors alike.
“If there was effectively a duel between ourselves and the world’s dominant sailing force… I mean, the Kiwis are to sailing what the All Blacks are to rugby really… to take on the best in the world, on our home waters, 171 years after the America’s Cup was first raced there, would be quite something.”
Ratcliffe admits they might get “a bit of flak” from other syndicates. But he points out that no one else would really be ready to contest another Cup so soon anyway. And as far as the 2024 event is concerned, nothing would change, with Ineos happy to return to Auckland – if that was what New Zealand wanted – regardless of whether they won or lost in Cowes.
“I mean, it’s a bit quirky,” he admits. “But the Cup has always been a bit quirky. It wouldn’t be the first time there had been a duel. The first 100 years they were typically duels. And we do genuinely want to level up the playing field, to reduce costs. I’m on record as saying I’d be keen to look at an independent governing body, to make it as fair as possible, although I accept I’m new to this and others with more history in the Cup enjoy its quirkiness.”
Ratcliffe says a decision will need to be made soon, with not much time for Ineos to build a new race boat if the 2022 event does happen. But either way, he admits he has been smitten – by the Cup, by New Zealand, and by its inhabitants, whom he describes as “unfailingly cheerful, chatty and welcoming”.
Ratcliffe moved his entire operation to New Zealand – there are around 30 Ineos staff plus partners down there with him – and has spent the past three months aboard his superyacht Sherpa, working and touring the country.
“They have a very can-do attitude down here,” he says. “But also, they don’t have a chip on their shoulder about anything as far as I can see. There’s no sense of envy here. I don’t get any s--- here because I’ve got a boat.”