Team Sky performance director Rod Ellingworth – a founding member of the team and a man who was also instrumental in delivering Mark Cavendish's 2011 World Road Race Championship win – is to join rivals Bahrain-Merida from next season.
The Telegraph reports that the performance director – who has also worked in several roles at British Cycling – has been in talks with the Italy-based team for several months.
Bahrain-Merida entered into a joint-venture partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies earlier this year with the latter due to step in as co-sponsor at the beginning of the 2020 season.
Speculation has been that the team will be called Bahrain-McLaren with Merida remaining as technical partner and bike supplier.
While the team has only a small British presence at the minute in the form of Welsh rider Stevie Williams, Vincenzo Nibali’s rumoured move to Trek-Segafredo would leave an opening for a new team leader. That said, all of Team Sky’s Grand Tour leaders remain in contract.
Interview: Team Sky's Rod Ellingworth
A Team Sky spokesperson said: “Rod Ellingworth will be leaving Team Sky to join Bahrain-Merida from next season. Ellingworth, who was a founder member of the team upon our formation in 2010, informed senior management of his decision earlier this season.
“He will remain with the team for the immediate future to ensure an amicable and smooth transition.
“Everyone at the team thanks Rod for his immense service and contribution during his time with us. The team will be making no further comment.”
Team Sky’s final race will be this year’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege, after which it will become Team Ineos.
The team will first be seen at the Tour of Romandie in a one-off kit before its official launch at the Tour de Yorkshire.
Shimano are a disgrace . My bike had one of those cranks and it was making a strange noise for a few days and when I was out riding it just broke...
She was just taking her car in for a service
Drivers don't have to prove their mileage normally, except possibly to their employers, if they have such. I've never been asked by HMRC to do...
(Note that this happened in Dublin, Republic of Ireland)...
You can get those on Garmin Connect now.
I just bought a bike from Tredz and their service was excellent. Quick responses, plenty of flexibility, easy to get through to a human and have a...
Sadly that is the first thing I thought...
And rechargeables used to die very quickly. I guess they still do but modern built in rechargeables give some signal as the charge gets low...
Clearly the doped up driver did not see the rider, quite possibly because he never bothered to look. That still leaves the fact that he chose to...
A friend commented on his strava upload after a wet ride at the weekend "Definitely need to get the winter bike out! 🚜💩 all over the roads"...