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New Tour of Britain race director Rod Ellingworth has heaped praise on his former team, Ineos Grenadiers, at the Giro d’Italia, saying the team is “riding superbly well.”
Present on the Giro through an invitation from the organiser to gain greater insight into elements of the running of the Italian Grand Tour and their potential application in the Tour of Britain, Ellingworth was ideally placed to offer analysis of the race and his former squad’s first week performance.
Ellingworth quit the management of Ineos Grenadiers during the winter and is now working through British Cycling to revive the fortunes of the men’s Tour of Britain. Along with the Tour of Britain Women, formerly the Women’s Tour, the two races come close to folding completely after former organiser SweetSpot had its naming rights rescinded because of a dispute over unpaid rights fees, but now have a new lease of life through the British Cycling deal.
Regarding the Giro, where Geraint Thomas lies in third overall, and Ineos Grenadiers won the opening stage with Jhonathan Narvaez, Ellingworth told Cyclingnews on stage 10 that “I think they’re doing as well as I’ve ever seen, and they’re riding superbly well.
“They’re getting led really well by Zak [Dempster, sports director], and G [Geraint Thomas] is G – he’s solid, and all the lads really respect him and ride for him.
“I think that combination of him and Ben Swift in particular, they race well together and I think it’s great to see Magnus [Sheffield] coming on, he’s settling in well and learning the ropes.
“As for Johnny [Narvaez], I was off the settee on Sunday” – when Narvaez came within metres of victory at Naples – “and shouting like mad to cheer him on. And his stage win as well on day 1, that was fantastic.
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“So the way they’re racing is brilliant, and Geraint’s just got to bide his time. Who knows with Pogačar and what’s going to happen. If nothing happens, he’ll win, but if something does, G has got to be ready to pounce on it.
“So yeah, they’re racing really well as a unit, and it’s brilliant to see.”
As for his work on the men’s Tour of Britain, set to run this autumn in a reduced format with four stages, Ellingworth explained that at the Giro, he had “come to spend a day in the race director’s car, just for the experience as I’m taking that role on through British Cycling.
“Being a different level race, there are different concepts involved in terms of how the roads are closed and so on. But I just wanted to see how the communication works between the different groups and elements involved – the police, race organisation, race radio and so on, and how the organiser handles and negotiates all of those.
“It’s a very tough job for the organiser and I’m keen to understand all the complexities of it. The system’s different in a bigger race, and one like the Tour of Britain, but a certain amount of work in the lead car remains the same.”
Regarding the Tour of Britain, Ellingworth said, “I think [British Cycling CEO] Jon Dutton has done a great job getting the race to where it’s at. Obviously, the race needed to be run, it’s our flagship event in the UK and it’s really exciting, I think it’s got a great future.
“Being a national federation, taking it on has the advantage that local councils seem to be really keen to work with us. British Cycling have this new company, British Cycling events, and they have aspirations for other events as well, so I think it’s really exciting.”
In terms of the 2024 route, he says, “It’ll take a similar pattern to the past this year but I’ve got ideas for the future. It is a little bit last minute so we’ve having to use some of the start/finish locations that we know already work and are available.”
“It’s 100 % a transition year, it’s about picking up the races last minute, British Cycling taking the risk on, which was a big risk, but I’m saying we’ve got to make the races world-class quality.”
“And there’s lots that British Cycling want to do in terms of cycling, inspiring people. The biggest thing for me is how do you inspire young people to get into the sport and you don’t do that just flashing past in 30 seconds. So there are other events, circuits, and so on that we want to do.”
As for what will remain from previous editions of the Tour of Britain, Ellingworth argued that in terms of the running of the race in itself, “Sweetspot did a very good job, and it ran for many years, so there’s a hell of a lot you want to take from that.”
“I’ve got to say, some of the guys I’ve been working with like [route director] Andy Hawes, nobody had really heard of him but the amount of work they do is phenomenal. They’re across it all.
“So it’s a question of what are the really good bits that we want to keep, but I want to put my own take on it a little bit too.”
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