British elite membership Raptor Manufacturing facility Racing have introduced their goal to step up a tier to UCI Continental stage in 2026, in a bid to realize higher-level racing alternatives and assist rebuild the home scene.
This season marked the primary since 2004 that there have been no British males’s Continental groups, following the collapses of Trinity Racing and Saint Piran.
Based at the beginning of the yr, and supported by London-based model Raptor Bikes, Raptor have been among the many key animators of the UK’s Nationwide Street Collection, successful a spherical in final month’s Beaumont Trophy.
Chatting with Biking Weekly, Tony Poole, Raptor co-founder and group boss alongside David Streule, mentioned the curiosity has been “very optimistic.”
“I really checked quarter-hour in the past. We’re now above 50 riders who’re in search of spots on the group,” Poole mentioned. “We’re speaking high performers throughout the nationwide scene, plus current Conti riders in Europe at that stage, from all types of nations; we’ve had curiosity from South Africa, Belgium, Spain, New Zealand…”
For Poole, the quantity of riders getting in contact is testomony to the dimensions of the hole within the UK scene. At the moment there is just one British UCI-registered males’s group: Ineos Grenadiers. France, by comparability, has three UCI WorldTour groups, two ProTeams, and 12 Continental groups.
“There simply isn’t a journey for all these individuals,” Poole mentioned. “The expertise is there, and there’s a lot of British expertise, and we need to award them the platform to have the ability to develop and transfer up the ranks. That’s one of many key core ethos of what we’re making an attempt to construct.”
In line with fellow boss Streule, previously of London Dynamo, Raptor’s plan to succeed in Continental standing was hatched on the group’s founding. “It was all the time a long-term objective, however we needed to take the steps,” he mentioned.
“We’ve gone from mainly nothing to successful a Nationwide A highway race. We’ve completed high three at a UCI race, the CiCLE Basic, however we’ve additionally had a number of high fives and high 10s overseas in UCI races. When you have a look at the British continental rankings for all of the Nationwide A and Nationwide B highway races within the UK, we’re the third greatest group.”
Streule and Poole are actually looking for monetary and tools sponsors to make the step up. Attaining Continental standing will give the group entry to UCI .1 races overseas, a tier up from the .2 races they will presently enter, in addition to the Tour of Britain, the promise of which they hope will entice potential companions.
“We imagine there needs to be UK Conti groups, we needs to be giving riders alternatives, and the UK market needs to be large enough to assist these groups commercially,” mentioned Streule, “by way of the publicity we may give to manufacturers to assist us on our journey.”
Requested what Raptor’s goal price range is, Streule refused to share numbers. Different British riders who’ve tried to arrange males’s Continental groups prior to now, nevertheless, have estimated the working value to be round £300,000 as season.
Raptor have set a mid-October deadline for rider purposes to affix their formidable challenge. The group may even must file a Continental licence request to British Biking, who will assess the sustainability of the challenge, and its stage of backing.
“We’re nonetheless very a lot open and in search of companions,” mentioned Poole, including that the demises of Britain’s earlier males’s Continental groups is serving as a “cautionary story” for Raptor’s plan.
“It’s probably not that it’s daunting, it’s simply that we’ve got to navigate it rigorously due to what’s occurred prior to now,” Poole mentioned. “I believe it’s extra a matter of studying from different individuals’s errors, and guaranteeing you don’t repeat them. On the similar time, somebody has to fill the hole.”
Racers with no less than a Cat-2 licence can apply to affix Raptor Issue Racing till 10 October through the shape on the group’s web site. Potential sponsors can get in contact with the group by e-mail at data@prometheansports.com.
