Tom Pidcock has stated that Ineos Grenadiers will probably be “higher” with out the crew’s director of racing, Steve Cummings, at this 12 months’s Tour de France, after he was surprisingly left at residence.
Regardless of Cummings’ senior function within the crew he has not travelled to the Grand Départ in Florence. As a substitute, Zak Dempster would be the British crew’s lead DS, supported by second DS Xavier Zandio Echaide.
Cummings’ absence has come as a shock after he was instrumental in assembling the eight-man Ineos squad and race technique.
A spokesperson for Ineos Grenadiers confirmed to Biking Weekly that Cummings can be “supporting Zak and the crew remotely” as soon as the three-week Grand Tour begins on Saturday.
Pidcock informed Biking Weekly on the race’s crew presentation on Thursday night that he felt Cummings absence would don’t have any impact on the crew. “I don’t assume it’ll have an effect,” Pidcock stated. “Issues change, it’s not likely for me to remark.”
He then went on to say that the crew can be “higher” with out the previous British champion, when requested if he thought issues can be the identical.
Viewers of the latest Tour de France: Unchained Netflix collection noticed pressure between the pair when discussing rider management duties eventually 12 months’s race.
On Wednesday, Pidcock joked in regards to the “dangerous man” portrayal of him within the collection, dismissing it as “drama.”
Biking Weekly understands from sources near the crew that the depiction of the connection by the Netflix cameras did have some extent of accuracy. Sources additionally advised that Pidcock has an enormous say in main resolution making on the crew.
John Allert, the crew’s CEO, stated that there was “nothing so as to add” to the story and that he wouldn’t be drawn on the explanations behind Cummings’ absence. He repeated the crew’s line that the DS will probably be supporting the squad remotely in the course of the race.
“Steve’s nonetheless engaged on the Tour, he’s simply not on the Tour,” the Australian stated. “He’s feeding stuff in, he’s a part of a crew, we’ve acquired a crew of coaches and DSs and he’s clearly an necessary a part of that.”
Nonetheless, Dempster stated that he felt it might be troublesome for the previous Tour stage winner to play an enormous half in choices from afar.
“I believe that’s not possible,” Dempster stated. “For the second I’m the lead DS right here and it’ll be me managing the race on behalf of the efficiency crew. However for positive, he could have an enter and he’s carried out a extremely good job constructing this journey to this point and we go on with it.”
Dempster went on to say that he had discovered he would lead the crew greater than “a few weeks in the past”, however different experiences have advised that the choice was the truth is solely taken lower than per week earlier than the Tour started.
