A gruelling 189km of racing, starting and finishing just after Saltburn Bank, which has a maximum gradient of more than 22% and the race in total has over 400 meters of climbing with a fast descent soon after with tight hairpin bends making for a tough and relentless course.

As a team, we had 13 riders, line up at the start line for what would be a hot gruelling day of racing with increasing heat and wind along with forecasted thunderstorms for the latter part of the race.

142 riders set off from East Cleveland, and as soon as the flag dropped after the 1.5km, lap 1 saw a plethora of attacks in a bid to reduce the peloton with Will Roberts and Jack Rootkin-Gray representing the team in multiple attacks at the front of the race early on.

The aggressive pace reduced the number of riders to 40, with small groups forming along the road. Zeb Kyffin, in excellent form, managed to make it into the front group, which gradually dwindled to 15 riders as the early laps progressed. Zeb remained active in the front group, even launching attacks of his own. However, a stroke of bad luck struck when Zeb encountered an issue that required a bike change.

Zeb got back to the group with relative ease whilst mechanic Max Hale sorted the issue of his race bike - so he could have this back a lap later. Once back on this racebike, the front group started to split which made Zeb chase back on that much harder. Once back on Mark Donovan from Q36.5 put in an aggressive attack which then saw the rest of the front group riding very aggressively but not cohesively. Unfortunately, Zeb's long chase back prior meant he didn’t quite have the legs to be in the front 6. Finding himself in the chasing group just behind the peloton.

Into the closing stages of the race, Zeb suffered another puncture - a swift bike change saw him back up and running - into the final climb through a series of twisting and wet corners saw Zeb fighting for a potential 11th place finish, Crossing the line in a highly respectable 13th place.

DS Steve Lampier “Zeb put on a great performance today. A few bike issues which ultimately took the edge off his top performance so it’s a case of what could have been. He did a great race and it shows his level is improving race after race. Harry Birchill, on a return to form, rode a very good race, he was in the group going for a top 20 finish, unlucky he circled to two punctures and with the team car ahead he had to call it a day.”

Saint piran x British national road race championships 2023