Saint Piran kick start the 2023 season in Europe
The 2023 season officially kicked off for Saint Piran, just a short hop across the English Channel - competing in two back-to-back races - the Grand Prix Criquielion (Lessier, Belgium) and Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers (Lillers, France).
A weekend packed with action, unfortunate crashes, and a few punctures for good measure – but ultimately a chance for the boys to line up aside World and Pro Tour teams at the beginning of the season.
For Will Tidball, Zeb Kyffin and Lucas Jowlett – their first official race in the Saint Piran colours.
Grand Prix Criquielion
The weekend kicked off the Belgian Village of Deux-Acren – a 120km course packed with action.
DS Steve Lampier “Overall I am very happy with today – it’s our first real race of the season so we’re against guys who have raced several times and have had a lot of racing in their legs – including World tour and Pro tour teams. So in some ways, we were up against it but I was quietly confident we would put in a good performance and result.
We had two riders in the very early break, new recruit Zeb Kyffin and the longest serving member of the team Bradley Symonds, but this was unfortunately brought back by the Pelton very quickly. After the 3-man move went over the top – it stayed away for the majority of the race so it was a story of what could have been
The boy’s road well in the peloton, looking out for moves on the final two laps – aggressive racing ensued Jack Rootkin-Gray made the first group of 25 riders, whilst Harry Birchill and Zeb Kyffin were in just behind. Unfortunately, as the front group raced away Jack crashed with 500m to go with a rider with a rival team – which was unfortunate, but these things happen.
Ultimately, however, I am pleased with how all the boys raced, despite the misfortune of a few punctures along the way. “
Final Result: Jack Rootkin-Gray 36th, Zeb Kyffin 52nd , Harry Birchill 56th , William Tidball 96th, Adam Lewis 108th and Bradley Symonds 115th
Grand Prix de la Ville de Lille
Day two the boys jumped across the border to France for the Grand Prix de la Ville de Lille. A tough day for a few of the lads who were suffering from the effects of crashes the day before, coupled with some bad luck but resulting in a Top 20 finish for Zeb Kyffin.
DS Steve Lampier’s thoughts on the race - “Frustrating day really – we went into the race expecting a very nice result after finishing 6th there last year. We had a good plan however, this fell apart relatively early during the race when Adam Lewis a key component in our plan, came down in a crash after 30km. Unfortunately, Will Tidball had a few mechanical issues leading to a bike change and struggle to get back on due to extraneous circumstances.
Zeb Kyffin he’s coming of age as a bike racer – he’s such a strong rider getting away in an 11-man group on the final half of the lap.
He and Jack were following moves in the hectic last lap – with Zeb utility getting away in the 11-man move and unfortunately he finished 11th which on paper so not the result we wanted but performance wise he rode well.
The first weekend of racing for this year completed– overall I am pretty satisfied where we are – setting up really well all the lads are driven to perform and want better results – a really good sign for the racers to come.”
Final result: Zeb Kyffin 11th, Jack Rootkin-Gray 28th and Harry Birchill 54th.
Up next for Saint Piran is the Classic Loire Atlantique on the 18th of March!
