The 2023 Tour of Britain kicked off with a lumpy stage in and around Cheshire, Greater Manchester and touches of Lancashire and West Yorkshire with a strong break shaping the racing of the day.

This breakaway of five riders included two from Saint Piran in Jack Rootkin-Gray and Zeb Kyffin along with three other very strong riders. However, the peloton knew this and only allowed the gap to go out to two and a half minutes.

While both Zeb and Jack went for the KoM points, it was Bolton Equities-Blackspoke’s James Fouche who came out on top on both ascents. But both our riders are now in 2nd and 3rd in that category.

After the final KoM of the day, Fouche joined Harry Tanfield of TDT-Unibet and slipped back to the peloton. Leaving Jack and Zeb with Norwegian powerhouse, Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X, at the front of the race.

Working well together, this took the gap back out to just over two minutes. This brought a big reaction from behind with Jumbo-Visma, Ineos Grenadiers and Bora-Hansgrohe all chasing.

Eventually, all the riders were caught in the final 5km and it finished in a sprint with the stage favourite, Olav Kooij of Jumbo-Visma, taking the day. Will Tidball was our best finisher in 24th place.

Sports director, Steve Lampier, added: “We had an ambitious plan last night, which was to get two riders in the breakaway. Zeb Kyffin was always going to be one of those riders but I also wanted Harry Birchill or Finn Crockett to be in the break.

“That would mean, two riders that are normally unknown to WorldTour riders so that they could get a significant gap on the peloton and when the got the last unclassified climb the would have roughly four minutes and from that point on the breakaway, especially the two Saint Piran riders, could absolutely jam it and the peloton underestimates the horse power our riders have.”

“We executed this plan really well. Zeb, which was absolutely perfect. However, we had Jack in the break. Jack is too well known in the WorldTour circles so we weren’t allowed a big enough gap.

“It was kind of a hiding to nothing but I wanted to roll the dice and show that we were here to race. We’re not here just to get into the breakaway and roll for a jersey. We’re here to try and win stages.

“Behind the break, four lads in the bunch with two going for the sprint. They were out placed coming into the finish but the still finished at the front of the bunch and Jack lost no time after he was caught (from the break). Which is really good for his overall ambitions.

“For Zeb, it was a fantastic race. It shows how strong he is and that he is capable of stepping up to the next level.”

Looking at tomorrow’s stage, it is a very short one. 110km in a loop starting and finishing in the town of Wrexham. There are some lumps along the way that could see some interesting racing, though.

Steve shared his thoughts on what should be a fast day in the late summer heat. “I anticipate a bunch finish. It’ll be a very fast, aggressive stage. I’m wanting to not do something expected of a continental team as we are here to race. I like looking at things tactically and I don’t want to do the normal concept of things by putting riders in breaks for breakaways sake. I never did that in my career. I was never able to win a jersey, but we’re bigger and better than that.”

Double delight in breakaway for Saint Piran in opening stage of Tour of Britain 2023