'A stage win in the Tour de France really changed my profile': Steve Cummings on working as a chef, idolising Michele Bartoli, and playing football like Trent Alexander-Arnold

Steve Cummings is a former professional cyclist and won two individual stages of the Tour de France in 2015 and 2016. He also won a stage of the Vuelta a España in 2012. Other career highlights include overall victory at the Tour of Britain in 2016, and being crowned British national road and time trial champion a year later. After retiring from racing, Cummings worked as a Sports Director at Ineos Grenadiers before joining Australian WorldTour team Jayco-AlUla ahead of the current season.

This interview is part of Cycling Weekly's Q&A series.

What was your first racing bike?

My first racing bike was a Peugeot 653. It was pink and purple, I bought it from another bike rider, so it was used. I think I paid about £350 quid for it, which I gradually earned through selling doughnuts in school.

I think I was about 13-14 at the time. Someone lent me a bike at first, so I used to go on that, but that was the first bike I bought that Peugeot. I had a few mountain bikes before that. I haven't got it anymore, I can't remember what happened to it. I think I may have sold the frame, and then I think I kept the other bits but I can't really remember.

What’s the first race you remember watching?

Probably the Tour de France. It's hard to be specific on when, but probably just the Tour de France in general. It was around the time of Miguel Indurain, Marco Pantani, Laurent Jalabert, Mario Cippolini.

I always particularly liked Pantani. I remember a guy called Erik Dekker as well in the Tour one year when he won three stages, Triple Decker they called him. He was Double Decker, and then he won the third so it became Triple Decker. He was Dutch champion as well at the time. Then there was the Chris Boardman stuff. It was always worth watching the prologues when he was around.

Did you have a cycling hero when you were getting into the sport?

Michele Bartoli, I always say him when people ask that. It's just because of the way he raced, I always liked that he was very aggressive. I don’t think you ever really try to imitate riders you liked when you then get into racing though. I think what you do though is maybe try to take the best bits that you can maybe apply to yourself from certain role models. Bartoli was very aerodynamic. There's no point dreaming of being someone like Cipollini if you can't sprint.

Is there one single person who has been particularly influential on your and your career in cycling?

I'd probably say a few to be fair. Steve Peters, Max Sciandri and Dave Brailsford, probably those three.

What's the best place your career has ever taken you to?

I remember going to the Great Barrier Reef. We did the Tour of Queensland, I think we were in Australia for almost three months, I just remember that was a really great trip. I remember we did a boat trip and went out to the barrier reef one day.

What do you think you would have ended up doing if you hadn’t got into cycling?

I don't know, it's really hard to say. I still think about this now and ask myself what I'd do if I didn't do cycling. I'm much more studious now than I was, I do quite enjoy working with numbers and stuff like that.

I don't know though, I was doing all right selling a bit of clobber and stuff like that in school. At the time I was working as a chef as well, so I was enjoying that to be fair. I started off as a dishwasher, and then I was veg man, and then salads, and then I was doing first courses for a bit. That was in a pretty good restaurant too.

I don't think I'd have done that long term though, chef-ing, I did enjoy it, but it was just super long shifts. We always had a good craic there and always had a laugh.

Did you play any other sports when you were younger?

I've tried out a lot of different sports, but I played quite a lot of football. I still play football now. I also played basketball, and a bit of tennis, Mum and Dad got us into everything really and I've had a crack at everything. Position wise I was a right back in football, I think I was more a Trent Alexander-Arnold than a Gary Neville, at least in my own mind!

What was the most significant victory during your career and why?

The most significant was probably the first stage win in the Tour de France in 2015. I had done well in other races and stuff before that, but a stage win in the Tour really changes your profile. Then if you do it again it shifts your identity even more, and if you do it 35 times you become a legend!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to do a lot of exercise. I go running, riding, and walking in the mountains. I occasionally do a bit of weight training, but not too much. I also play around with music, I like to do that too. Other than that I love going to football. I like going to the theatre, I went to the Scouse panto the other day. The Scouse Red Riding Hood is brilliant, you'll have to go. I like anything like that to have a bit of a laugh.

What were your most played tracks on Spotify last year?

I don't really tend to listen to one specific track or genre or anything like that. I just am into all sorts, but I tend to go back to a lot of DJ stuff. I actually tend to mix my own stuff, and then I'll listen to that when I'm out about or I listen to a podcast or something.

Before I was studying, I was getting into more production and stuff like that, but then I stopped doing it. It was just too much screen time with work and study. But maybe at some point I'll go back and pick it up, it would be good to get into that a bit more.