Steve Cummings was the lead director sportif for Ineos Grenadier in the 2023 Tour de France, but he will not be in Florence for this year's race, and the team told Cycling News that during the biggest race of the season, only "remote work" to do so.

Daniel Benson first reported Cummings' surprising absence on his Substack page, and the team acknowledged the news to Cycling News. Ineos told Cycling News, "At this point, Steve is not racing, but we are supporting him remotely."

"The lead DS for the Tour is Zach Dempster, who is also the DS for the Giro and has worked with most of the major riders this season," Ineos told Daniel Benson.

"As racing director, Steve is at every race throughout the year, especially at the Tour, where he will remotely support Zach and the team along with Scott Drewer, John Alert, and the rest of the senior team.

Cummings has been the directeur sportif for many races this season, including the Criterium du Dauphiné, a prelude to the Tour de France. There is no doubt that he has played a key role in determining Ineos' lineup and race strategy for the Tour de France.

According to the recently released Netflix series "Tour de France Unchained," Cummings and Tom Pidcock endured a tense relationship during the 2023 Tour de France. However, Pidcock and teammate Carlos Rodriguez dismissed the Netflix episode as "drama."

Rodriguez and Egan Bernal were named Ineos' GC leaders, with Pidcock and Geraint Thomas supporting them in their quest for a stage win.

Ineos did not elaborate further, and Cummings did not comment on his absence.

Cummings was promoted to "racing director" after Rod Ellingworth left the team over the winter. Scott Drewer returned as performance director, and John Alert was promoted from managing director to CEO of the British WorldTour team. Also, former Movistar driver Imanol Elviti joined the team as Director Sportif.

Cummings did not appear in the announcement of the team's Tour lineup, leaving only Drewer and this rider to express their hopes for the Tour.

Elviti and Dempster were among the 50 or so team staffers who attended Wednesday night's press conference, but Cummings was not present.

Former team manager Dave Brailsford was in the limelight during his long tenure leading the team, but no members of team management attended the press conference.

"As long as we are all looking in the same direction, I am confident we will succeed," Thomas said.

"Of course, there will be bumps, but I think we just have to deal with them the best we can at the time. We are all very clear about what we came here to achieve."

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