Former Ineos Grenadiers rider Ian Stannard has been confirmed as a directeur sportif at Trinity Racing.
The 33-year-old retired from professional cycling at the end of 2020 after a long career that included back-to-back wins Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and third place in Paris-Roubaix. Stannard was also part of three of Chris Froome’s Tour de France winning teams during his career and was a former client of the Trinity Sports Management rider agency.
The British team was home to Tom Pidcock until the end of January, and very much like their former leader, the squad will keep their multi-discipline approach with road, mountain biking and gravel in their plans for the coming season as they move up to the Continental ranks.
“I have been very impressed with the progression of Trinity Racing since the team’s inception in 2018,” Stannard said in an announcement posted on Instagram.
“They have quickly become one of the leading development teams in Europe and I look forward to starting my new role for the coming season. Obviously, the road is what I know best, and we have an impressive roster of riders, Ben (Healy) and Thomas (Gloag) to name a couple, who we are confident can build on the success they showed last year in some of the biggest U23 races in the world. However, I am also very excited about getting stuck into the other sections of TRINITY’s calendar during the year, particularly gravel and MTB.
"As a WorldTour pro for so long, I only ever got to enjoy a small bit of mountain biking in the winter, but I have seen how the off-road side of the sport has grown, how riders these days really benefit from mixing disciplines, and I look forward to immersing myself in these worlds to learn, and help our roster in the process.
"My goal is to use my experience and knowledge to help our young talent to become better riders and hopefully allow them to achieve results wherever they want to achieve them; be it on the road, on the trails or on gravel tracks around the world.”
Stannard was forced to retire due to rheumatoid arthritis but said at the time that he still had a competitive edge and drive to succeed. Team manager Andrew McQuaid is hoping that Stannard’s dedication and experience will bring a new dimension to the team for the future.
“I have worked with Ian for over a decade now as a client of Trinity Sports Management, and I could not think of a better guy to bring on board with Trinity to help achieve the team’s objectives. Ian is passionate, knowledgeable, hard-working, and has a real desire to pass on what he has learned to the next generation.”
