A day before the debut race for Team Bahrain-McLaren with Rod Ellingworth as ‘Principal’, RIDE Media’s Rob Arnold spent an hour discussing a range of topics. This is part one of a series of interviews with the 48-year-old as he begins The Next Phase of an intriguing career in cycling.

 

– Click the link above to watch episode 1: ‘Talking Cycling with Rod Ellingworth’ –

 


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There are two more parts to this interview in which Ellingworth explains the recruitment of Mark Cavendish – and the long history he has with the sprint sensation from the Isle of Man – and why he believes there’s a lot more yet to come from ‘Cav’.

(Click here for part two: “He’s not old, he’s just experienced” – Ellingworth on Cavendish.)

 

In the concluding episode of the long interview, Ellingworth talks about the team’s main hope for GC in 2020… the pandemic was yet to hit but the principal of the team had high hopes for the Spaniard who he has worked with before, while the pair were part of Team Sky.

“He’s certainly our Grand Tour leader,” said Ellingworth of Mikel Landa. “We’ve got other riders who have potential and Pello Bilboa is a classic example – he was sixth in a Grand Tour and has big ambitions to go on. But for Mikel Landa, this is an opportunity for him.

“In the past he’s been in great form but he’s either had Aru or Froome or, more recently, Quintana – so he’s always had a bit of an internal challenge. Whereas now he’s got a bit of a free run at it.

“And we’re going to back him 100 percent for the Tour.

“If you look at this year’s Tour, it’d be the Tour where you’d think: ‘This could really happen for him.’”

(Click here for part three: “Mikel Landa and Bahrain-McLaren’s GC aspirations” – Ellingworth on Landa.)