Steve Cummings has been circling his prey all week and on the final stage of the Criterium du Dauphine the Dimension Data rider pounced.
Almost every morning the village depart Cyclingnews would ask Cummings if today would be his day. The final stage was his last chance and he emphatically made the most of it, joining the day-long break and then shooting for home with 70 kilometres and several cols to go. Two years ago you would have given Cummings a sporting chance at best to survive but since his move to Dimension Data he has thrived. Once he accelerated clear from the front of the rest of the break the only consideration was over who would finish second.
"When you're in a so-called bigger team you always have an objective. Normally it's to do with general classification and they use up pretty much every rider for that one goal. But in this team we don't have a GC rider, which leaves us free to pick our stages so I have more opportunities and I take them," he said in his post-race press conference.
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"I decided to go because [Tony] Gallopin was in front after the downhill and he's a good one so I thought it's be a good chance to have better co-opertation with 17 riders just being two. On the climb, I dropped him and I carried on alone. I hoped someone would come up but nobody came so I just carried on alone."
Without a GC rider Dimension Data have thrived, especially in this race. They picked up the points and king of the mountains jersey, while Edvald Boasson Hagen was victorious earlier in the week.
For Cummings in particular, a rider who spent the vast majority of his career working almost entirely in the service of others, this was another landmark moment.
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