Rod Ellingworth: 'In the back of Mark Cavendish's mind he’s got this Tour de France ambition'

Ellingworth goes in depth about the season ahead from the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, a mix of seven-star hotel, medical laboratory and Bond-villain lair

Rod Ellingworth (Daniel Gould)

Rod Ellingworth has something no other WorldTour team boss has — and he knows it. The driveway approaching the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking takes you over a vast artificial pond — the water was previously used to cool the wind tunnel’s motors — the grandness of which screams, ‘this is not just another corporation’.

Inside, the ambiance is a mix of seven-star hotel, medical laboratory and Bond-villain lair, with its secret doors, spotlessly clean corridors, uneven staircases designed to make you think, and corridors that double as showrooms packed with Formula 1 exotica from the company’s 56-year history. And that’s before you get to the subterranean levels stacked with boffins in white coats and manufacturing facilities that run 24/7.

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