Insights: Juniors Abroad – Benjamin Peatfield

The pandemic & brexit have hurt the fortunes of Junior riders wanting to race abroad but one who is doing well racing UCI events is Benjamin Peatfield racing for Ag2r Citroen U19 team

Insights: Juniors Abroad – Benjamin Peatfield

The pandemic & brexit have hurt the fortunes of Junior riders wanting to race abroad but one who is doing well racing UCI events is Benjamin Peatfield racing for Ag2r Citroen U19 team. In the last week, Benjamin won the Sprints jersey in the Bizkaiko Itzulia stage race in Spain. His Bizkaiko Itzulia racing didn’t start well as he had a mechanical that took him out of the winning breakaway with 5km to go on the first day. Benjamin ended up rolling in 4th after winning the sprint from the chasing group.

Asked to sum up his race there, Benjamin says of the Sprints jersey “I managed to win it comfortably being probably one of the only sprinters in the race. Teams tried to go for it on the last day but after the first sprint, they decided to give up on the idea after seeing the effort I went to to keep it!”

Getting himself onto the podium is always good for a rider and their team and unsurprisingly, the Ag2r Citroen U19 team were happy with that and especially his performance in the race that doesn’t show up in the results such as working selflessly for his team. His stage 1 performance also pleased the team. “To regain focus and still finish 4th by winning from the second group on the road, the team were happy with the way I handled that situation” Benjamin explains.

Benjamin, who races in the colours of Ag2R (the same as the pro team colours) explained that he rides in the Ag2R colours in training and races only in their colours in the races that are apart of their UCI calendar. Otherwise, for the regional races in France, he rides in the colours of his local club, VC Saintes, and when in the UK, the Lancashire Road Club.

I asked Benjamin how Brexit has affected his being in France. He replied “Brexit has definitely affected me but I feel I have got off lightly compared to the other Brits living in the UK. Due to moving to France pre Brexit, I was eligible to apply for French residency for the next five years.”

“It was a long process but now it’s all sorted and I have my residency card, it means I can move freely in and out of the country. This is a massive help for me as it means I can always have a base in Europe and not have to worry about my 90 day cap. If I really wanted, at the end of the five years I would be eligible to request French nationality!”

Thanks Benjamin for that insight… there’s a lot of juniors trapped in Britain, because of Brexit and Covid. Of the latter, I’m hearing that even elites which were exempt, have to quarantine for a week in France if travelling from Britain to their race if not double vaccinated so Benjamin is definitely in the right place to be a bike rider… Mainland Europe.

Whilst the British juniors are racing for the stripes in their Time Trial and Road Race Championships on Sunday, Benjamin will be racing a UCi Junior 1.1 race, Menen-kemmel-menen