British Continental team Saint Piran admit to using non-compliant framesets in UCI races

Cornwall-based British Continental squad, Saint Piran, has been using unmarked Chinese frames with fake UCI approval stickers applied to them, according to reports by Cycling Weekly. 

The highest-profile UK domestic squad, which is run by Richard Pascoe and holds British Cycling Elite Development Team status, has been racing on all-black, unmarked framesets purchased from a Chinese manufacturer. Fake UCI stickers were then applied to the seat tube in order to give the appearance of compliance. 

This situation arose in the wake of a breakdown in relations between Saint Piran and its then-sponsor, Lapierre, in 2022. The dispute was reportedly over safety concerns with the models supplied, which Lapierre strenuously denied. It must be said that no recall has been issued on the models in question, and no issue was reported by Lapierre’s WorldTour team, Groupama-FDJ, at the time. The cost of the claim by Saint Piran was reportedly £100,000, and resulted in the team being without bikes on which to race for a period, before Trek stepped in to fill the void as sponsor. 

In this interim period, the team purchased frames from a Chinese manufacturer, dubbed the ‘Wuhan Weapon’ by riders. It appears from pictures seen by Cyclingnews that the frames are from the brand Lightcarbon, with the model being simply named ‘Integrated Road Bike Disc Frame’, though St. Piran denies this, instead only stating that it used a ‘Chinese brand’.