The departure of Shane Sutton and the subsequent turmoil at British Cycling will cast a cold shadow over the second edition of the three-day Tour de Yorkshire but the chill will be more than metaphorical, with warnings of hill snow into the morning of Friday’s opening stage to Settle meaning that a backdrop of whitened fells and a brutally cold wind are guaranteed when the race crosses the 1,000ft contour at Greenhow Hill and Giggleswick.
Friday’s conditions could be similar to last Sunday’s distinctly Arctic Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classic, where the seasoned Briton Steve Cummings finished 19th, wrapped in a variety of thermal and waterproof kit that included three pairs of gloves and two foot protectors. Unobtrusively the Wirral racer has been one of Britain’s most successful cyclists in the last 12 months, winning a stage in epic style at the Tour de France and backing that up with other victories at the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tirreno-Adriatico, plus his strong rides in last week’s Ardennes Classics – Liège and its sister race Flèche Wallonne.
“I really enjoyed last year. It’s on roads where you can really get stuck in,” said Cummings this week. “Last year the first day was really difficult and the last day was even harder. I hope it’s as tough this weekend. It’s all technical climbs, home roads, lots of people out there.”
Sunday’s final stage to Scarborough, Cummings says, is “not a million miles away from being like Liège. Last year I wasn’t looking forward to it. I wanted a break after the spring. This year I am up for it.”
Now 35, Cummings appears to have finally found his niche at the Dimension Data team, where he has been given the freedom to race in his own way. That means identifying the races – or stages in a multiday event – that he wants to target and saving his strength at other times. “You get confidence from someone saying you can do what you want to do. [The former team manager] Brian Smith gave me the green light,” he said. “My style of riding at the back [of the peloton] has always been a thing with managers who want you to be at the front, but on certain days it’s just about getting from A to B and staying upright.”
Cummings has found that victories like his stage win in last year’s Tour resonate well with the public and that victory has given him faith in his way of doing things. “The Tour stage changed things. After that I’ve taken more confidence into this year. Not a lot of team directors can complain about it because the results are there. I believe in my system, my work. I believe I’ve got it nailed and will deliver. It wouldn’t work with [Sky head] Dave Brailsford because he likes to pinpoint things and I’m more flexible. I rely on interpreting the race myself rather than using plans.
“People like to see something different, an alternative approach. I’d take less money to be able to race like I do. So many teams do the same thing and it’s boring. The strength of our team last year was that we had lots of riders who could get in breaks and give us numbers when it mattered.”
Smith’s recent departure, coupled with the arrival of Mark Cavendish, a sprinter who needs to be protected by domestiques, may change that, although Cummings is uncertain how Dimension Data will, for example, approach the Tour de France.
For this weekend, though, he will be unfettered, and he hopes to continue pleasing the fans and winning major events for another three years, until he feels he is no longer competitive. Cummings remains a rare free thinker in a sport that often seems to stifle personal initiative.
“The [top tier] WorldTour is too structured. It can feel like you are just a motorbike when you are doing as you are told and when to do it,” he added. “I race a bike because I want to be aggressive, throw the book out of the window, try things. That’s what inspired me to race a bike. I get lots of good feedback and that makes me more passionate. It’s not all about general classification and WorldTour points. Points mean [contract] money but I’d rather have a win and sod the points.”
The hilly route will suit Cummings but there are others in the same bracket. Team Sky field the national champion Peter Kennaugh alongside last year’s winner, the Norwegian Lars-Petter Nordhaug, while Bury’s Adam Yates could shine on roads that resemble the hills of the Basque Country where he won last year’s San Sebastián Classic. France’s Thomas Voeckler shone last year, while the up-and-coming Warren Barguil is tipped as a future Tour de France winner by some. From the home teams, JLT-Condor’s Russell Downing has extensive knowledge of his local roads, and the cricketer Matt Prior’s OnePRO squad field last year’s 10th finisher Richard Handley.
The women’s race, the most lucrative on the calendar, features 17 teams racing over the stage-two course before the men on Saturday. The 2015 world road race champion, Lizzie Armitstead, will hope to build on an excellent season so far, with competition expected from Britain’s Emma Pooley and Dani King, while Kirsten Wild of Holland, Belgium’s Jolien D’Hoore and the American Shelley Olds offer a threat from further afield.
