Breaking news: Ineos Grenadiers leave DS Steve Cummings at home for the Tour de France
Director of Racing will not form part of the management team at the race in 2024
We have learned this evening that Steve Cummings, the Director of Racing at Ineos Grenadiers, will not be at the Tour de France this year.
Cummings has been a pivotal figure in the team’s management over the last few years and stepped up his responsibilities at the start of the current campaign as the squad underwent a reconfiguration following Dave Brailsford’s departure.
The former rider was also instrumental in the building the team’s roster for this year’s race, with Tom Pidcock, Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas and Carlos Rodríguez all selected, and his omission from the management at the biggest men’s race in the world comes as a surprise.
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Cummings did not respond when contacted by us on Wednesday evening and he did not appear at Ineos’ pre-race press conference on Wednesday afternoon. He was also not featured in the team’s roster announcement made on Monday, with Scott Drawer, the team’s Performance Director, quoted instead.
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Ineos Grenadiers have been approached for comment but we understand from sources that the decision to leave Cummings out of the Tour de France management was made a week ago.
Update: On Thursday morning Ineos Grenadiers provided the follow response to us via text:
”The lead DS for the Tour is Zak Dempster who was also the DS for the Giro, and has been working with most of the key riders this season,” the team said.
“Steve, as our Director of Racing, is across all races throughout the year, and on the Tour specifically will be supporting Zak and the team remotely, along with Scott Drawer, John Allert and the other senior team.”
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I thought he was good in season 2 of Unchained.
Wondering if this was a decision based on rider feedback or is he in his way out of the team?