On Friday, just before the start of the Vuelta a España, it was officially announced that Ineos Grenadier will lose two top riders in 2023. Olympic champion Richard Kalapas will move to EF Education Easy Post and Dylan Van Baarle will move to Jumbo Visma.

Any big-name rider, especially if it is a rider like Ineos Grenadier's Carapas, who has already scored three Grand Tour podiums, or Van Barre, who won the Paris-Roubaix solo race this spring.

The Ineos show will go on with or without the two headliners, but when general manager Rod Ellingworth pointed out that these departures would be a huge loss for the team, he fully agreed: "Exactly."

But Ellingworth also pointed out that other young Ineos Grenadiers players are making big waves. Geraint Thomas is also quite young."

"Richard has three Grand Tour podiums and is an Olympic champion.

"He has a great story and we have enjoyed working with him.

"So he leaves the team with the best will in the world for both of us. But this is business and we are moving forward with the team. We are still very ambitious and sometimes we have to give way to different people."

Ellingworth stressed that despite Carapaz's desire to head to new fields and pastures, the Ecuadorian is coming to the Vuelta "with GC ambitions and we fully back him." He is the Grenadier of Ineos until December 31". Juan Barr is one of Carapaz's supporters in the Vuelta.

"The same goes for Dylan. 'The victory in Roubaix was phenomenal for us. The victory in Roubaix was phenomenal for us. It makes sense

"His move is understandable considering how passionate he was about this team as an English team. Fair play to him if he made the team in Holland as well as they did.

Ellingworth noted at the same time that the Ineos Grenadiers need to give young riders a place to grow. 'In the last few weeks alone, we've been able to develop our young riders,' Ellingworth said. In the last few weeks, Magnus [Sheffield] did well in Denmark, Pavel [Sivakov] won the Vuelta a Burgos, Ethan [Hayter] won in Poland, and Tom won the European MTB Championships, and even further back in Alpe d'Huez. That's the goal here, to help everyone grow."

Asked to analyze the young riders of the Ineos Grenadiers in the Vuelta lineup, Ellingworth first singled out Hayter, saying that the Vuelta was always on his schedule this season.

"At the beginning of the year he had the possibility of competing in the Tour, but we thought that was only a possibility and that he had more to gain by doing stage races than classics. Either way, he is a winner, growing and learning as he goes, applying his ambition on the circuit to his racing," Ellingworth said.

"Luke [Plapp] is also interesting and I think he just needs to race...In the two years of COVID, a lot of the 19 to 22 year olds have gone away from racing. We have to take that into account. So I'm sure Luke will have his ups and downs here, but as long as he can make it to Madrid, I hope he does.

"As for Carlos Rodriguez, I have no problem with him at all and I am confident he can make it to Madrid. He is one of the coolest young guys I've met and this was part of his program. And then there is Ben Turner. I am convinced he can go to Madrid and I have no problem with that. He will be a big player for us in the future. He is a great teammate. "

As Ellingworth noted, the Vuelta was Tom Pidcock's first Grand Tour last year. 'He learned a lot. And that's what we always do, send a few young pros to the Grand Tours. Otherwise, it's just more of the same, and eventually they catch up. So it's good to have a mix of different riders, and this year was the perfect year to do that."

The absence of Calapaz and Van Baar may be felt in their own way, but with a few weeks left in the season, Ellingworth is confident that they have not yet had the last word as Grenadiers racers. If they do compete in the Vuelta, Ineos will be making an interesting down payment on the team's future in Spain by drafting a young racer. In other words, the void left by the proven racers is likely to be filled in no time.