Flying at the Tour de France, Steve Cummings will ride for Team GB at the Rio Olympics afterall.
Having expressed his deep unease at being omitted from Great Britain’s road race team for the Rio Olympics, Steve Cummings has gotten a belated call to join the line-up after Peter Kennaugh stepped aside.
The selection of Kennaugh, a class rider but one who has not been in great form this season and broke his collarbone earlier in the year, had raised eyebrows especially given the form Cummings has been in.
Cummings also earned a lot of respect from observers with his fearless remarks about what he said was an unhealthy relationship between Team Sky and British Cycling.
He called on Rod Ellingworth to resign as Team GB coach saying there was a conflict of interest between that role and his full time job with Team Sky, whose riders Cummings said were clearly favoured when national teams were being selected.
Advertisement
“I think we need a new coach because of a conflict of interest,” Cummings said three weeks ago.
“That’s my opinion and maybe I’ll never ride for GB again but if that’s the way it is, then that’s the way it is.
Related News
“If you win the races I’ve won this year, in the way I’ve won them, and you don’t get picked then you might as well say what you think.”
He said at the time he had spoken to Ellingworth, who picked the Team GB line-up for Rio, and he had revealed Cummings had been marked negatively in the selection process for “commitment”.
In the original team for Rio were Adam Yates of Orica-BikeExchange and four Team Sky riders; Kennaugh, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard.
Since making his comments Cummings has won stage 7 at the Tour de France and finished a brilliant 10th in the first time trial of the race and Kennaugh’s place in the Rio team looked increasingly unjustifiable.
The Team Sky rider from the Isle of Man has now withdrawn from the team and Cummings has been included in his place.
Kennaugh, who broke his collarbone at the Tour of California in May, was gracious in his comments on withdrawing from the team and will undoubtedly be back for Team GB.
“London 2012 was one of the highlights of my career so I am gutted to be missing out on Rio but, knowing that I am not able to give my best, I felt it was my duty to withdraw,” he said.
Aside from his Tour stage win and 10th place in the TT, Cummings has also won a stage at Tirreno Adriatico this year as well as a stage at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco and at the Criterium du Dauphiné.
Kennaugh win the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and a stage of the Herald Sun Tour but has struggled since then.
Topics
