Rod Ellingworth has right now been introduced because the race director of the newly packaged Tour of Britain occasions.
The 51-year-old, who resigned as deputy group principal of Ineos Grenadiers in November final yr, will take up the function with British Biking, returning to the federation he final labored for eight years in the past.Â
British Biking took over management of the Tour of Britain final month, following the collapse of the earlier race organiser, SweetSpot. In doing so, it relaunched the Ladies’s Tour because the Tour of Britain Ladies, the race that can mark Ellingworth’s first responsibility on 6-9 June.Â
“It is a new function and a brand new set of abilities for me, however I’ve been inspired and supported by different race administrators within the sport,” he stated in a press release. “I’ve spent an excellent portion of my life on the street on the sport’s largest races, and will likely be drawing on all of that have to make the Excursions of Britain the perfect they are often.”
A former bike owner himself, Ellingworth first joined British Biking as a coach in 2002, and went on to assist arrange the Olympic academy programme. Alongside his work with the squad, he was concerned within the unique arrange of Group Sky in 2010, guiding the group to seven Tour de France victories between 2012 and 2019.
Ellingworth stopped working with British Biking in 2017, following the Rio Olympics, and joined Bahrain-McLaren as group principal for a yr in 2020, earlier than returning to Ineos as deputy principal.Â
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
“One among my early biking recollections is being on the UCI Street World Championships at Goodwood Circuit in 1982, and that have lit a hearth in me which has continued to burn day-after-day since,” he stated. “I understand how invaluable and life-changing the expertise and recollections of main biking occasions may be, and really feel extremely privileged to now have the chance to play such an important function in the way forward for the Excursions of Britain.”
Ellingworth added that he’s now excited to “play my half in defending and rising [the events] for the following era”.Â
“Because the son of an occasion organiser and the dad of a younger boy beginning his personal journey as a rider, I really feel an actual accountability to get this proper, but additionally big pleasure concerning the begin of a brand new chapter and problem within the sport,” he stated.Â
Particulars of the route of the four-stage Tour of Britain Ladies will likely be launched within the coming weeks, in response to British Biking. The boys’s race is predicted to happen in September.Â
