The winter of discontent is over for Steve Cummings. His beloved football team Liverpool are runaway leaders of the Premier League and he finds himself in a new role as sports director with WorldTour team Jayco-AlUla after a controversial exit from Ineos Grenadiers.
His last race for the British team was June’s Critérium du Dauphiné as the Director of Racing unexpectedly did not appear at the Tour de France. Sources close to the situation told Cycling Weekly at that time that his absence was in part due to his apparent fractured relationship with team leader Tom Pidcock. Pidcock said at the race’s team presentation that he felt Ineos would be "better" without Cummings there.
“On a personal level, I never had a problem [with him] and haven’t got one,” he told Cycling Weekly at his new squad’s media day last Monday. “It’s quite surprising, all the stuff that was written. It’s all smoke really. What was on Netflix, that was it. There was never anything else,” Cummings said, referring to the latest Tour de France: Unchained documentary series. It includes a scene where Cummings tells Pidcock he will have to commit for Carlos Rodriguez. The Briton says he is not sure he agrees before asking the cameras to be turned off.
“The team decided to take me off the race. Like when you’re not selected as a rider, it’s just a decision you respect,” he said. “I guess they thought it was in the best interest of the team. And then you start to look elsewhere.”
Having posted on LinkedIn in November announcing his decision to step away, this was the first time Cummings publicly addressed the saga since it unfolded.
Cummings said that the team “didn’t really give him a reason” for his omission. Was that frustrating? “I think there areobviously moments when it’s frustrating, but you just try to be resilient, accept it and move on,” he said.
Ineos staff had insisted that Cummings' absence from post-Tour races was of little significance and suggested that he was preparing for the new season. The man himself did not believe it spelled the end of his time there either: “I just thought I’d continue with the team. It wasn’t until sort of October, then I decided [it was] better to change.”
It was a controversial conclusion to Cummings’ four-year stint with Ineos Grenadiers, having joined as a development sports director in 2021. “I felt it was a massive opportunity for me. Then there was a lot of change in the team, in general,” Cummings says. He rose through the managerial ranks quickly and was lead sports director for the 2022 and 2023 Tours de France.
“G[eraint] did third behind Vingegaard and Pogačar, Tom Pidcock won a stage [on Alpe d’Huez] which was probably the most beautiful stage win of the Tour. Then the next year, the team won two stages and Carlos [Rodríguez] was fifth, fighting for the podium until the last days when he crashed. That was phenomenal in his first Tour.
“I’m just grateful to all the riders, staff and everyone who helped us achieve [that]. In my opinion, with all the information I had, we maximised the team.”
Cummings had known Jayco-AlUla director of high performance and racing Matt White since their racing days as Discovery Channel team-mates in 2007. Contact on a personal level to check in with him evolved into a job offer. Cummings knows several of the team’s riders well, including his former Ineos charge Luke Plapp and new leader Ben O’Connor, who was a young pro at Team Dimension Data while the Briton was in the final years of his career there.
The Australian led the 2024 Vuelta a España for a fortnight, finishing second and placing fourth at the Giro d’Italia. “Arguably, outside of grand tour winners, you would say he’s the next best stage race rider consistently across the season. I’m looking forward to working with him,” Cummings said.
Cummings will hope to have the same seismic impact behind the scenes as new Liverpool manager Arne Slot. Whatever the future holds, he is happy to be back in the team car, doing what he loves.
“I’ve had a lot of time at home with the family, time to reflect and recharge. Now I’m ready and excited to get going again,” he said.
