'It was time to change': No regrets for Rod Ellingworth after leaving Ineos Grenadiers
New Tour of Britain race director says he is still on good terms with Dave Brailsford after resigning from team last year


Rod Ellingworth has no regrets after resigning as deputy team principal at Ineos Grenadiers last year.
After quitting his role with the WorldTour giants in November, the 51-year-old received job offers from other cycling teams but recently accepted an offer from British Cycling to become race director for both the Tour of Britain Men and Women.
In an interview with Cycling Weekly and others in Manchester, Ellingworth explained that he had felt for some time that a career change could be beneficial to him after feeling concerned about becoming trapped in his previous role.
"I resigned, I just decided that it was time for me to finish," Ellingworth said. "There were a few things that I wasn’t totally in agreement with and then I felt like life was catching up with me a little bit. My kids are getting older and there are different pressures with that, so then I just thought perhaps it was time to change. Fortunately I’m now in a situation where I got change."
As well as two stints with Ineos, he also worked in a similar capacity at the Bahrain Victorious team.
"I’d been speaking to other teams about going to work with them but it wasn't quite as exciting as doing this now to be honest," he added. "I just needed something new, to do something a bit different and something that was going to challenge me in a different way."
Often touted as the natural successor to Sir Dave Brailsford at the top of the Ineos Grenadiers pyramid, Ellingworth explained that he had begun to feel that his future lay elsewhere within the sport. He did not expand on the issues he said he did not agree with.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
"I think Dave perhaps thought I was going to do that fully," he said. "There were no issues at all, I just thought personally that it was time for me to change, that was it. I was thinking about it at times last year but I hadn’t planned too far ahead... I was just sort of taking things as they come really.
"I just felt like I was at a point in my life where if I didn’t make a change when I did, I was possibly going to get trapped if you like."
"I haven't looked back," he added, suggesting that he did not regret his decision to resign. "I really enjoyed my time there and everything that I’d done. Maybe I'll go back at some point and do something, I don’t know. I’m just rolling with it now to be honest, this opportunity came up [at British Cycling] and it was quite exciting for me, so it was interesting to get involved, that was it."
Ellingworth’s resignation was swiftly followed up by a staffing restructure across the team which saw John Allert move into the position of CEO, Dr Scott Drawer appointed as head of performance, and Steve Cummings promoted to head of racing.
Brailsford still has a foothold in cycling as part of his role within the wider Ineos sport group but is now taking an active role on the board of Manchester United Football Club. This comes after Ineos officially acquired a stake in the Premier League team in February.
"I think it’s brilliant," Ellingworth said of Brailsford’s increased involvement with football. "I encouraged him as obviously I was around him a fair bit while this was all happening and getting planned. I do think that if anybody can do it, he can to be honest. We’ve messaged a few times about it, yeah."
"If you had asked me ten years ago I would have said he would go and do something like this as he's always chatting about football. He’s always been involved with people in football and was always inviting ex players and managers into the team for things.
"Dave is very well connected in that area so I would have put a lot of money on it a while back that he would have gone into football so I'm not at all surprised."
Now in the process of bedding into his new role back at British Cycling, Ellingworth joked that he would be drawing on his vast experience across the WorldTour to borrow ideas regarding race organisation from elsewhere.
"Massively," he said. "I’ll be nicking ideas from left, right and centre to put into this, why not. If you talk about favourite races, my favourite race to do has always been the Giro. I love the Giro, I thought that was a brilliant race to be on and to work on. It had a certain fluidity to its negotiations and a very Italian feel to it if you like.
"Then you go to the Tour and it operates like clockwork. So I do feel a bit like we’re in a fantastic situation where we can look at all the different races and organisations and think about what we might need and it's up to us now to put that together."
Despite seeing Brailsford jump into a different sport, Ellingworth said that he wouldn’t consider following suit in the future.
"I don't think I would want the hassle," he said. "I’ve been really fortunate in my own time of working with different sports and people in cycling, certainly through the Ineos sports concept with Ben Ainslie in sailing, with OGC Nice, we’ve done lots of things with various sports groups and I’ve always enjoyed it actually.
"I’m always open to it and actually the other year, Welsh rugby came to see me and spent a few days with us at the Tour. It’s great and really interesting to do that but no, I'm not looking for something outside of this."
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

After previously working in higher education, Tom joined Cycling Weekly in 2022 and hasn't looked back. He's been covering professional cycling ever since; reporting on the ground from some of the sport's biggest races and events, including the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships. His earliest memory of a bike race is watching the Tour on holiday in the early 2000's in the south of France - he even made it on to the podium in Pau afterwards. His favourite place that cycling has taken him is Montréal in Canada.
-
UCI rejects One Cycling project as 'incompatible' and 'lacking sporting coherence'
Governing body to remain in discussions with project representatives, as 2026 WorldTour calendars announced
-
Michael Matthews puts career on pause after signs of a pulmonary embolism
Australian will miss Tour de France with all physical activity stopped until further notice
-
Would Dave Brailsford returning to Ineos Grenadiers be a good idea?
Reportedly on his way out of Manchester United back to a wider role at Ineos Sport, the old Team Sky boss might be back in the world of cycling
-
Geraint Thomas to move into management role at Ineos Grenadiers after retirement - reports
Welshman due to retire at end of 2025 but expected to stay with team
-
'I only found out I was coming to this race yesterday' - Sam Watson claims first WorldTour win in 3.4km Tour de Romandie prologue
Brit wins by just three tenths of a second to take leader's jersey
-
'It can really push me along' - How a velodrome comeback is making Caleb Ewan faster on the road
Australian says he'll "definitely" continue track work after rekindling passion
-
Could Caleb Ewan be Ineos Grenadiers' first Tour de France sprinter since Mark Cavendish? 'That's my goal'
"All I can do is try to win as much as possible and prove that I deserve to be there," says Australian
-
'An unprecedented opportunity for brands to be part of the evolution' - Ineos Grenadiers sponsor hunt steps up with sales agency partnership
Sportfive have been employed to find "non-endemic global partners for the team"
-
'We've all got a little bit extra in us this year' - Ineos Grenadiers recapture 'fighting spirit' with aggressive Paris-Nice display
British team continue to put tumultuous 2024 behind them with momentum and a new found mentality
-
Could a TotalEnergies deal be the end of Ineos Grenadiers as we know them?
Reports suggested this week that Ineos could be close to signing a deal with the French petrochemical firm