Feature – Raleigh’s Steve Lampier

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Leading British based rider in the 2014 Friends Life Tour of Britain, Steve Lampier has new colours on his back for 2015 – Raleigh-GAC

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Feature – Raleigh’s Steve Lampier 

In finishing 18th, Steve Lampier was the leading British based rider in the 2014 Friends Life Tour of Britain and for 2015, has new colours on his back – Raleigh-GAC

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Steve (centre) all smiles at a day of testing at team sponsor Perform. With Steve are George Pym (left)  and Sam Lowe (right)

Steve was at the Perform Healthcare Centre at St Georges Park last Thursday for pre season tests where VeloUK got to speak to him and he says signing for Raleigh-GAC is mega. “I spoke to Chez during the Tour of Britain and it was one of those moments knowing that Chez (Cherie Pridham) and Eddie had been around for a long time in cycling that was pretty cool.”

“Bill Nickson, the manager with Giordana last year mediated a bit and I explained what I was looking for and they agreed so I’m super excited for the 2015 season. We have all this stuff in the background like this super facility (Perform) for testing and so on which is a result of the effort that Chez has put in.”

“Add that to a team with a good bunch of lads and a great programme of races; what’s not to be motivated for!”

It’s quite different to the year before when there was a lot of uncertainty about who he would get a ride for. “Signing before the new year had started meant I could chill out” Steve explained. “I went to Lanzarote before Christmas and then I got an invite from Wouter Sybrandy to a race in Qatar which was great training”.

“Then after chilling over Christmas, I was in Calpe for three and a half weeks in warm weather which has meant I have not had to wear gloves this winter!”

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The dreaded skinfold test for Steve but he looks pretty trim!

In 2014, there were two major highlights for me, seeing Steve on the podium at Ride London Classic and then the Tour of Britain. Talking about the latter, Steve says “The Tour of Britain was special but tinged with a lot of disappointment.”

“I had bike issues with three or four k to go on a stage (penultimate one) and couldn’t’ get onto the big ring initially. There was a cross wind and I’d attacked and got away a bit but because I could not get on the big ring, I was caught and then missed a move”.

“By the time I got it onto the big ring, I was in the cars and gave away 30 seconds. If I had stayed with the group, I’d have been 13th overall. So I came out of it with a lot of regret but a lot of knowing what I need to do. Doing that on the limited racing we have in the UK, it made me realise if I do such and such races or training, I can get a top end GC result in the Tour of Britain”.

Asked what he feels his strengths as a rider are, Steve replied “When I was a younger, my strength was climbing so don’t be fooled by the big legs! I come from Cornwall and used to go out with James Williams and we used to go out and sprint up two minute climbs.”

“That is all I used to do so I was always a good climber. I went to the Basque country for three years with the help of the Dave Rayner fund so a lot of my results didn’t get noticed but the best results came on hill top finishes or in hilly races”.

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Bradley Wiggins grimacing whilst behind Steve is mixing it with the superstars of the cycling world

“Then I came back to the UK when I had glandular fever before going to Belgium and didn’t know what to do really. I then signed for Sigma Sport and there, Matt Stephens helped me a lot like saying to me ‘you climb really well, why don’t you concentrate on that and lose a little weight’. Subtle things”.

It was during this time that Steve was wearing the yellow Sprints jersey in the Tour Series and being yellow, you couldn’t really miss him! Getting that on his shoulders he explained was more about being aggressive and breaking away than being a sprinter. “The Tour Series is a cash cow and if you can’t win a race, you need to be showing your sponsor on TV”.

2014 Highlights
Talking to Steve about his highlights from 2014, he says that the Tumble stage in the Tour of Britain was one of them. “At one point dropping Wiggins was pretty cool! And then having Sylvain Chavanel attack me, that was mega!”

The King of the Mountains award in the Ride London Classic was another highlight for Steve and why not when you get to stand on a podium on the Mall in London.

Bill Nickson (his team manager at Giordana) said to us, “you’re not going to win this race and it may finish in a big bunch kick as it was the year before. We had Cronshaw who is a good sprinter and I am sure if he believed in himself he could win these sort of sprints but he doesn’t like to put himself in that position. So Bill was like, if you get in a break, I’ll give you a bonus and so everyone was fired up.”

“Coming out of London, there were attacks left right and centre and I couldn’t get to the front and when I did, I’d get swamped. I was thinking ‘this is going to be a crap day’! Then we came into Richmond Park, and it was headwind and the peloton went to the other side of the road and I had got to the front and followed a wheel and next thing, we were off the front going hard”.

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Steve all smiles again, this time heading up the break in RideLondon

“The Belkin guy (Jonathan Hivert) was like ‘let’s nail it’ and we just got away (six riders) and it was like sweet. For the first King of the Mountains, I knew it was there even though it wasn’t easy to see and won it and was like, I am going to focus on that.”

“Everyone was working and being in the mix lifts you. These World Tour riders are probably better physiologically than me as they’ve done umpteen longer races than I have but riding with them is not as bad a mismatch as many may think. Because of the way the level is going up in Britain, the difference between us and them is getting smaller every year.”

“It was mega to then stand on the podium. Over Christmas, I saw some pictures and it was like, yes, that’s me with the Queen’s house in the background!”

“There was a lot of disappointment as well last year because I didn’t get to do what I wanted in Premiers for various reasons but the RAS was another highlight, finishing 6th on a hill top finish”.

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On the podium, always a special moment for a cyclist but this was a HC category UCI event on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace.

Looking ahead to 2015
Having done such a good ride in the Tour of Britain and come into a strong team, Steve is looking forward to getting some results in 2015. “I have lost a lot of weight and become a lot more confident in my ability over the years with help from Jimmy Mac (McCallum, (now a Trainsharp coach) and for the last two years, Stephen Gallagher from DigDeep. It has reaffirmed to me I can do it”.

“The Tour de Yorkshire race will be mega. There’s 33 per cent climbs in that, uncategorised! There’s the Chorley Grand Prix which the rumours were it was going to be a five day which would have been mega but we have that as a single day and the Tour of the Reservoir which has always been a big aim for me”.

“The Tour of Britain as well and a busy season of races will work better for me where I hope to have two ‘hits’. “There are also the hard crits like Durham and the CiCLE Classic which I can ride with my eyes closed as they are local training roads. So there is a lot of racing to get on with which is good for the UK scene.”

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Steve has his position on the Wattbike adjusted.

Thanks to Steve for the chat and good luck for 2015

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