Dave Brailsford leaves INEOS Grenadiers

It is officially confirmed what had long been a fact. Dave Brailsford, founder of the legendary Team Sky that took Great Britain to the top of road cycling after having achieved the same on the velodromes, is no longer part of the structure of the INEOS Grenadiers, a team in which he still appeared as Team Director.

Is Dave Brailsford switching cycling for football?

End of an era for the INEOS Grenadiers with the departure of Dave Brailsford from their structure, who was the head of the squad since he founded Team Sky in 2010 in an attempt to transfer to the road the successes achieved at the head of British Cycling on the track and that put the British as world dominators of the velodrome.

And of course he managed to transfer the model, starting a new era in cycling by applying more science to the sport, from the latest training methodologies, careful nutrition, rest of the runners, etc. all those little details that had not been taken into account before because they were considered minutiae and that they began to take care of under the premise that many small gains could add up to a big gain, coining the term “marginal gains”.

However, after the team's acquisition by INEOS his role at the helm began to fade. He had been seen less and less at the race and more in management tasks, something that most of the current team managers have to suffer. However, the entry of INEOS further diluted his role in charge of the team, becoming increasingly important in the INEOS Sports organization chart, the division of the oil company in charge of sports sponsorship in general.

When a few months ago the entry into the shareholding of Manchester United by INEOS came to light there were already many voices suggesting that the person destined to occupy a relevant position in the organization chart of the legendary English club would be Dave Brailsford. Now, his total disassociation from the cycling team is simply made official in what would be a preliminary step to his jump to football although this last point would remain to be confirmed since, in principle, he would continue to perform the same work as in recent times in INEOS Sports.

A turbulent winter in the ranks of the cycling team as Brailsford's departure is preceded by the resignation in early December of another historic figure like Rod Ellinworth who was the one carrying out the effective management tasks of the INEOS Grenadiers on a daily basis.

Brailsford said goodbye to the team during the last concentration before the start of the season that took place in Mallorca. For his part, the day-to-day of the team, a role that Ellinworth occupied, will now be taken over by John Allert, who already appeared in the organization chart as general manager and will have Dr. Scott Drawer as performance director and Steve Cummings as race director.