Retired British pro Steve Cummings joins Ineos Grenadiers as sports director 

Retired British pro Steve Cummings has Ineos Grenadiers as a sports director. 

Cummings, a two-time Tour de France stage winner, previously raced for the British WorldTour squad in 2010-11 and said he knew he wanted to rejoin the outfit. 

The 39-year-old left the peloton at the end of the 2019 season after seeing out his last few years with Dimension Data, but returned to Ineos at the start of the year as a sports director and coach.

Cummings told Cycling News:  “When I stopped racing I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I was on this journey of finding out and I was trying new things. I was trying TV and few other things and it just became more and more apparent that I loved cycling and that I missed the competition.” 

Cummings said he had been in conversation with former Ineos Grenadiers CEO Fran Millar, who left the team in 2020.

But team principal Sir Dave Brailsford then contacted Cummings to offer him a new role in the team, with Cummings helping to steer the team’s new aggressive and instinctive approach to racing. 

He said: “At times maybe the style of racing was robotic so it’s about being a bit less predictable so part of my role is to work with the group, to understand and figure out how we can make any adjustments or add that dimension to the already existing things that the team do so well.”

Cummings rode in the pro peloton for 15 seasons, picking up 17 career wins including two Tour stages, the overall at the 2016 Tour of Britain, and the British National Championships double in 2017. 

He is also a veteran of the biggest races in cycling, riding 13 Grand Tours and 25 Monuments during his career.

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Cummings said: “I’m looking forward to getting back into the action and working with the riders and staff. It’s the start of a new journey. If you look at the team and you’re talking about selection, it’s definitely a team blessed with unbelievable talent. There’s a strong British contingent coming through with Ethan [Hayter] and Tom [Pidcock].