British Olympian and cycling aerodynamicist Dan Bigham has announced his departure from the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, citing a lack of clarity and frustration with missed performance gains.
Bigham, a key figure in Team GB's track cycling team, will leave his performance engineer role after the Games. He explained his decision to the Telegraph, stating that the team "lacked clarity" following Sir Dave Brailsford's departure and expressed disappointment with the team's inability to reach its potential.
"How I want to do performance is not particularly aligned with how Ineos wanted to go about it," Bigham explained. "I wanted more autonomy, more ability to action my ideas. And I wasnât really getting that at Ineos."
He drew parallels with his previous experience with the British Track Cycling Team, where he felt his ideas were dismissed.
"I feel that a lot of performance we're leaving on the table and that frustrates me because it's clear as day we should be doing things a lot better," he added. "Let's be honest, Ineos are not where they want to be, not where they need to be and the gap is not small."
Bigham also expressed dissatisfaction with the team's support for his Olympic preparation, stating that he was ultimately offered three months of unpaid leave from May.
"Dave [Brailsford, Ineos' director of sport] hasn't particularly been involved since I joined," Bigham said. "We know what it takes to win but how do you get there? What are the processes? That's the bit lacking clarity. That's the bit frustrating me as well because I feel like I've got a very clear idea on the energy outside equation, the drag and where we need to go and we were not committing to some of the things I felt could bring some fairly significant performance."
An Ineos Grenadiers spokesperson countered Bigham's claims, expressing pride in the support provided to him and arguing that the team's program would remain unaffected due to its "strength and depth across a number of talented individuals."
Bigham's departure marks a significant change for the Ineos Grenadiers team, highlighting the challenges faced by top-level cycling teams in balancing individual ambition with team objectives. His outspoken criticism of the team's approach to performance will undoubtedly spark further debate within the cycling world.
