He may have only finished second, but Doncaster’s Graham Briggs was delighted with second place at the Rapha Nocturne London after helping teammate Brenton Jones to victory.

Taking place around a 1.3km circuit that ran past the Guildhall and St Paul’s Cathedral – in the heart of the City of London – the Rapha Nocturne is a day-to-night festival of cycling that welcomes both elite and amateur cyclists to the streets of the capital.

Briggs was racing in the finale of the event, the showstopping men’s elite criterium for his team JLT Condor, and finished second as Jones sprinted to victory and a further two teammates also made the top ten.

The 33-year-old’s team have now won the race for three years in a row, and, having won the recent Tour Series too, Briggs is happy to be part of a well-oiled winning machine.

“It’s a great result for the team with Brenton winning, and second place for me has really capped the night off,” he said.

“The win was the ultimate goal for the team, so we’re pleased.

“It was a very aggressive race, there were attacks going on all the time, but we just tried to get a guy from our team in the mix.

“We always seem to do that and it came down to the sprint. I heard Brenton yelling for me so I gave him a good lead out and then managed to hold out for second.

“The atmosphere makes Rapha Nocturne a special event. I always look forward to it, racing in the centre of the capital – it’s one of the best races to be at.”

Established in 2007, the Rapha Nocturne London is now part of a World Criterium Series, after the organisers launched a new event in Copenhagen, in August.

The aim is to find, and crown, the best circuit racer in the world and with Briggs now leading the series – having accumulated more intermediate sprint points in London that his teammate Jones – he is keen to claim the title in Denmark.

“I’m really happy to lead the series. I tried not to move from the top five and I was always up there for the sprint laps, so I made it count,” he added.

“Hopefully we’ll go to Copenhagen and put on another good display. I think it’s great that they are expanding it across Europe.

“The racing in Britain is probably the best in the world – you see the WorldTour guys come over and they don’t take it lying down.

“It’s great to take British racing all over the world for crits."

The Rapha Nocturne London is part of a World Criterium Series with the next leg in Copenhagen, on August 19. For more information go to www.raphanocturne.com