PROFESSIONAL cyclist Steve Lampier is looking to build on an already “mega” start to the season by targeting the Tour of Britain, writes Sam Moore.

The 30-year-old, who grew up in Helston, started his riding career with the town’s Cyclelogic team before moving out to race on the continent.

Now the former Helston Community College student is a member of Team Raleigh GAC after stints with IG-Sigma Sport in 2011 and Node4 Giordana Pro Cycling in 2013 and will be part of their British campaign.

Speaking to the Packet just after a training session before starting the Tour of the Reservoir series in Derbyshire, Lampier said he is looking forward to riding for his new team, who he has already experienced a race win with at the Totness Vire stage race.

Lampier said: “Riding for a team like Raleigh is just mega, they have everything organised for us and so let us just concentrate on our riding.

“We have race bikes and training bikes, full-time mechanics and swannys [soigneurs who look after the riders’ schedule, physiology and diet]. It’s just a really well-organised outfit.”

The rider who is now based in Peterborough but still regularly visits Cornwall added he hopes to keep his recent good form up for his new bosses.

“My aims for this early part of the season were the Wally Gimber Trophy race, the Totness Vire stage race, the Chorley GP and now the Tour of the Reservoir,” Lampier said.

“I’ve had a bit of a rest this week so I will hopefully be going into that one with a fresh pair of legs.

“But it’s not just about me, as [Karol] Domagalski will be joint leader with me during that race, and we also have Morgan Kneisky, the World Track Cycling Champion, on board.”

The Tour Series, the UK’s premier city centre circuit racing series, visits some of the country’s best racing locations, including the Isle of Wight, Aberystwyth, Bath and Canary Wharf, London.

Looking ahead to this series, Lampier said the main aim will be to get Raleigh’s name near the top of the General Classification standings, but added he is looking to bag some stage victories too.

He said: “I’ll be doing the job for [Ian] Wilkinson, [Sam] Lowe and Kneisky, making sure I put them in a good place.

“Having said that, there are a couple of stages that I’ll be targeting, namely Redditch, Aberystwyth and Durham because they all have some nice punchy hills in there.

“The Durham stage is dead hard, the hardest criterium [circuit] race in the country. It’s always been a bit of a bug bear of mine as I seem to keep finishing ninth, so I’ll be looking to try and top that this year.”

An area of contention is whether or not Cornwall will ever see the Tour Series grace any of the stunning towns the county has to offer and Lampier believes the Duchy could act as a spectacular backdrop for the races.

“You could have some truly mega races in some of the towns in Cornwall,” he proclaimed.

“Truly amazing, but there’s always going to be issues surrounding council spending and public opinion.

“Sure the shops might lose out on footfall for a day, but I’ve been involved in the organisation process for the Peterborough races and I can say from experience that those shops easily make back the loss and ultimately profit from it.

“Falmouth would be a spectacular venue with the Pendennis loop as well as the cobbled section in the town centre. But for now that’s just the way it is.

“One day, when I’m retired, I’ll bring racing back to Cornwall.”

Lampier’s climbing prowess saw him mixing it with cycling’s top WorldTour riders, including Bradley Wiggins, in last year’s Tour of Britain.

He finished an incredible 18th place overall, although mechanical issues on the penultimate stage prevented an even better 13th place.

The achievement was mainly thanks to his 13th place on the Queen stage, a 6km summit finish up the Tumble in Wales.

This year the Tour organisers have included an even tougher summit finish on stage five, the winding 8km trip up Hartside Fell in the Lake District.

“That’s one of the longest, highest roads in the country,” said Lampier with some trepidation.

“But if I can put in a similar performance up Hartside this year then hopefully I’ll have a chance of being high up in the standings.”