Why Rod Ellingworth left Ineos Grenadiers

RadioCycling

After being at the forefront of British success for two decades, masterminding the development of superstars such as Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and Tom Pidcock, Rod Ellingworth has left WorldTour to oversee the reboot of the women’s and men’s Tour of Britain.

In an exclusive interview trackside at Manchester velodrome, Ellingworth reveals why he left Ineos Grenadiers, how he has a bold vision to grow British Cycling’s national tours — and whether he’ll be giving Dave Brailsford advice on who to bring off the bench at Old Trafford…

Sandwiched between the pavé and the Giro d’Italia are the Ardennes Classics, hilly one-day races in the elevated lands of the Netherlands and Belgium, the setting this coming weekend for a heavyweight clash between Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel.

In our preview of the weekend's major racing action, Ardennes Classics veteran Dan Martin, winner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2013, tells us what makes these races so special and about the qualities required to win them. We also hear from Bahrain-Victorious's Pello Bilbao on how you go about beating Tadej Pogačar.

While Van der Poel and Pogačar have been hogging the victories and the headlines at the very top of the sport, it's also become increasingly difficult to ignore the feats of 21-year-old Briton Joe Blackmore. Winner of the Tours of Rwanda and Taiwan, 4th against the big guns at Flèche Brabonçonne, and victorious again at the under-23 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Blackmore has just signed a 2-year contract with Israel-PremierTech.

In our profile of this hugely exciting talent, we hear from Joe Blackmore himself, who tells us what kind of rider he sees himself as and about his motivations as a racer.

In our regular feature on "Ways to Make Cycling Better", former pro and now EF Education-EasyPost team director Tejay van Garderen tells us why he'd like to see names and numbers on riders' jerseys.

This podcast is brought to you with the support of our sponsor, Saddle Skedaddle.

Music provided by HearWeGo

Marion - High Hopes

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