If you have watched season 2 of Netflix's Tour de France: Unchained, you will be very aware of the fact that at the Tour last year, Steve Cummings was the leading figure of the sports director staff at the race for the INEOS Grenadiers. This time around however, the Brit will not be present.
Rather than Cummings, himself a former Tour de France stage winner in his racing days, INEOS Grenadiers will have Zak Dempster, the man who led the team at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, as their lead sports director at the 2024 Tour de France, with Cummings instead left at home.
“At this point Steve is not on race but supporting remotely,” sources from within the INEOS Grenadiers told Cycling News and well respected reporter, Daniel Benson. “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. 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.”
During season 2 of the Netflix documentary, Cummings and Tom Pidcock were seen to repeatedly be at loggerheads over a number of issues, including the level of the Brit in comparison to teammate Carlos Rodriguez and the subsequent desire from Cummings for Pidcock to sacrifice himself in the service of the Spaniard's podium hopes, with cameras even being asked to be shut off by a visibly annoyed Pidcock at one point.
Pidcock and Rodriguez will both once again be leading the team at the upcoming Tour de France, joined by the likes of former Tour de France winners Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas among others when the race departs from Florence, Italy on the 29th of June.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
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Breaking news: Ineos Grenadiers leave DS Steve Cummings at home for the Tour de France dnlbenson.substack.com/p/breaking-new…
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