"We had a system and thought riders will automatically come out as Tour de France champions at the end" - Rod Eilingworth reflects on Ineos Grenadiers' GC downfall

Appearing on a recent episode of Sigma Sports presents Matt Stephens Unplugged, former Team Sky/Ineos tactician Rod Eilingworth looked back on the highs and lows of his cumulative 13 years with British WorldTeam and offered an insight into the team's underperformance in recent seasons.

"I think we felt like we had a system, it was like 'here is this system, run them through the system and they'll come out Tour de France champions on the other end," Ellingworth told Stephens. "It doesn't work like that, you've got to keep adapting. I think, yes, maybe there were a couple of years there where we just ran the same system in a way and it eventually caught up with us."

"'15, '16, '17, '18, it felt a bit too easy in a way. It felt easy. We were dialled, we all knew our place, there was no egos, Dave was trusting of us, of what we were doing." Although much of the WorldTour peloton eventually caught up with their methods, the honeymoon period lasted longer than the team ever initially imagined. "That system lasted, I'd say, some of them concepts lasted eight years before other teams even cottoned on to what we were doing."

"When I left it was maybe 100 people, all of a sudden it went to 130, with lots of different roles, lots of different people. It's like anything, it becomes a bit of a monster in some respects and really hard to manage and communication then is hard. I think as well the team had massive expectations on every race, pressure was always on. I think inevitably the cycle of life catches up with people eventually and also a lot of good people had moved on," he referred to some of his former colleagues.