Former Ineos Grenadiers boss Rod Ellingworth becomes race director of Tour of Britain

Rod Ellingworth has today been announced as the race director of the newly packaged Tour of Britain events.

The 51-year-old, who resigned as deputy team principal of Ineos Grenadiers in November last year, will take up the role with British Cycling, returning to the federation he last worked for eight years ago. 

British Cycling took over control of the Tour of Britain last month, following the collapse of the previous race organiser, SweetSpot. In doing so, it relaunched the Women’s Tour as the Tour of Britain Women, the race that will mark Ellingworth’s first duty on 6-9 June. 

"This is a new role and a new set of skills for me, but I’ve been encouraged and supported by other race directors in the sport," he said in a statement. "I’ve spent a good portion of my life on the road at the sport’s biggest races, and will be drawing on all of that experience to make the Tours of Britain the very best they can be."

A former cyclist himself, Ellingworth first joined British Cycling as a coach in 2002, and went on to help set up the Olympic academy programme. Alongside his work with the squad, he was involved in the original set up of Team Sky in 2010, guiding the team to seven Tour de France victories between 2012 and 2019.

Ellingworth stopped working with British Cycling in 2017, following the Rio Olympics, and joined Bahrain-McLaren as team principal for a year in 2020, before returning to Ineos as deputy principal. 

"One of my early cycling memories is being at the UCI Road World Championships at Goodwood Circuit in 1982, and that experience lit a fire in me which has continued to burn every day since," he said. "I know how valuable and life-changing the experience and memories of major cycling events can be, and feel incredibly privileged to now have the opportunity to play such a vital role in the future of the Tours of Britain."

Ellingworth added that he is now excited to "play my part in protecting and growing [the events] for the next generation". 

"As the son of an event organiser and the dad of a young boy starting his own journey as a rider, I feel a real responsibility to get this right, but also huge excitement about the start of a new chapter and challenge in the sport," he said. 

Details of the route of the four-stage Tour of Britain Women will be released in the coming weeks, according to British Cycling. The men’s race is expected to take place in September.