Piccoli: “ A lot of teams wanted me after my dream season. I intend to work for Dan Martin’s and Ben Hermans“.

Tel- Aviv. Oct 4th, 2019

Israel Cycling Academy is delighted to announce that Canadian Climber James Piccoli will join the team next season.

Piccoli (28) who currently race for Team Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling – is coming from a breakthrough year that he calls “my dream season”.

The Canadian has finished 2nd overall in the Tour Of Utah – beaten only by ICA’s Ben Hermans who won the tour.

“I had a lot of teams interested in signing me”, revealed Piccoli. “But I chose ICA because of their belief in me and the amazing staff that they have. They really believe that I can be a great rider one day, and offered me an environment where I can adjust to European racing while helping the team out as best I can.“

ICA’s Pro Manager Kjell Carlstrom expressed his confidence that Piccoli can adjust quickly to European racing after spending most of his career in the North America racing scene:

“After Piccoli’s great season we are sure he can still progress and be a very valuable team member for ICAs first year in the WT. James has some great climbing legs, but his qualities go beyond that and can prove to be a versatile rider.”

Piccoli is arriving at a team who has just declared its intention to race World Tour starting next season, and Piccoli sees his role as assisting ICA’s Prime GC contenders Dan Martin and Ben Hermans: “I’m a climber/GC rider so I will probably be the last guy to help Dan and Ben in the hard races, and I’ll also look to take my shot at the win in target races when I can.”

Piccoli is a late bloomer. “I started cycling for fun with my dad when I was young, just riding around town and to coffee shops”, he recalls. “I started racing in my early 20s, while I was in university studying mechanical engineering. After a bumpy couple of years, I finally found a good home at Elevate/KHS Pro Cycling, and that’s when I really started to learn my craft and improve.”