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Not that he has enjoyed much of a honeymoon period. Within hours of the story breaking about his appointment, Malcolm was already on the phone, organising a team meeting to talk through plans for next year. “When you are a rider, you have a very narrow focus. You are thinking solely about yourself. Now that I am managing the team, I won’t be anything like as narrowly focused. I’ll still be as determined as I have always been, just in a different way."

“My plan had been to get into management but not necessarily this soon. But when it came up, I decided to step up and take the role. It’s only been a few days but already it feels quite natural. There is a lot to learn but I’ve had an extremely good mentor in Keith Lambert and if I can emulate his success, then I will be extremely happy.”

Malcolm already has some management experience after he helped Keith Lambert run the team during this year’s Tour of Britain. And, even though it was brief, he found being sat behind the wheel of the team car rather than the wheel on the bike in front, was one that he thoroughly enjoyed.

Tour of Britain 2010 and Malcolm Elliott helps prepare the bikes ahead of stage 1 in Rochdale.

“My time helping out Keith during the Tour of Britain has also stood me in good stead. I really enjoyed it. However, I am not kidding myself into thinking it won’t be hard - it will be. And, it will take time, but I am up for the challenge.”

Malcolm is already busy planning training camps for the guys and has just pencilled in dates in Lanzarote in December and Majorca in the New Year as the rider’s ramp up their preparations for the start of the season. Born and bred in South Yorkshire, Malcolm is nothing if not a realist and he is well aware of the task ahead of him, especially with rivals such as Endura and Rapha Condor Sharp having significantly strengthened their squads.

“We have extremely tough opposition in 2011 and we’ll need to step up once again. We were very much the underdogs this year and I think we’ll go into next year in the same position. But we showed what we were made of in the Halfords Tour Series and the Tour of Britain and with Ian Bibby, Jonny McEvoy, Pete Williams and now Marcin Bialoblocki, Will Bjergfelt and Tobyn Horton, I think we can be a match for the other teams.”

Above: Malcolm Elliott wins the toughest round of the Tour Series in Durham in 2010. It's said that talent is ageless and in Elliott's case, performances like that  by the 49 year old show that is truly the case.

In his role as a rider, Malcolm will be picking his races carefully and currently only has plans to compete in the Halfords Tour Series. “You have to learn to play to your strengths and mine are the crits. That’s not to say I won’t race in anything else but at the moment they will be my main focus as a rider. I am extremely excited about the task ahead."

"In Ian (Bibby) we’ve really got one to watch. He showed flashes of brilliance in the Tour Series and then in the Tour of Britain and we’ll be working with him to show more consistency. It is the same with Jonny (McEvoy). He has a huge amount of potential and with greater tactical awareness, I really think he will come on even stronger in 2011.”

Adds Malcolm: “Winning as a manager would exceed any of my achievements as a rider. When I was younger, I didn’t really appreciate what I had done. Now I savour every moment and winning like we did in the Halfords Tour Series, means much, much more to me.”

With that, Malcolm is off to talk about the bikes the guys will be riding. It would seem he has already taken to management like a duck to water!