Has chief executive officer James Pope parted company with DerbyWheel?

Pope’s profile on LinkedIn, which has recently been his platform of choice for professional communication, has been edited in recent days, adding an end date of May 2025 for his role as DerbyWheel CEO.

Pope has made no announcement regarding the change; and there have been no edits as yet to the derbywheel.com website.

Global Keirin has contacted sources seeking confirmation; but so far, we have received no response.

Pope is still listed as a director of DerbyWheel Player Ltd. But DerbyWheel Incorporated’s Korean president Do Jung Hyun was added to DerbyWheel Player Ltd as a director in mid-May.

At the time, we advised against reading too much into that: but we had our suspicions that it was to provide continuity in the event of a possible exit for Pope.

Pope remains listed as the founder and director of Koru Sports Group, his own micro-company created within days of his start with DerbyWheel Player Ltd, and which quotes the same company address. And as we reported earlier this week, Pope has increased his commitment to the StadioBike racing series.

DerbyWheel’s launch schedule was revised again in mid-June, proposing a start to fortnightly racing ‘every 2 weeks from Jan 2026’, effectively pushing its launch back a further six months.