Rod Ellingworth returns to WorldTour, rejoining Bahrain Victorious

Rod Ellingworth is to return to the WorldTour after rejoining Bahrain Victorious, the team he was principal at for one season in 2020.

The 52-year-old spent over a decade as part of Team Sky, which became Ineos Grenadiers, before leaving to head up what was Bahrain-McLaren in 2020. However, Ellingworth left after just one pandemic-affected season. He then returned to Ineos, as deputy principal but de facto principal, from 2021 until the end of 2023.

After a year out of the WorldTour, during which time he became race director for the men's and women's Tours of Britain, Ellingworth will now return.

His exact job title is unclear, with the press release from Bahrain Victorious only saying that he will be part of "senior management". Ellingworth has a proven track record in bringing through young riders, helping in the development of Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas, along others.

"He will take on a pivotal role in the performance team and work closely on performance projects over the next three seasons," the press release reads. "With a particular focus on Grand Tours and driving the team’s ambitions for a podium finish at the Tour de France."

"We are happy to bring Rod back to us and support our performance team. He will be a key part in guiding our young GC talents, like Buitrago, Martinez and Tiberi, with a focus on the Grand Tours," Milan Erzen, the managing director of Bahrain Victorious, said. "I’ve always maintained a great relationship with Rod — he’s a great guy who is incredibly knowledgeable about cycling. He has great experience achieving the best results in the biggest races. It’s great that he is back in our team."

"It’s great to be back with the team, and I’m looking forward to working on key projects over the next three years," Ellingworth said. "The team has some fantastic young riders with great GC credentials. I look forward to working with them to achieve the team’s ambitions."

The reasons for Ellingworth's departure from Ineos last year were not wholly explained, but he later said that he just needed to do "something new". At the same time, the team underwent a restructure.

"I resigned, I just decided that it was time for me to finish," Ellingworth said in an interview with Cycling Weekly earlier this year. "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."

CW understands that there is no immediate change to Ellingworth's role as race director at the ToB. The men's race begins on 3 September.