SNOWBIRD — As the 109th of 113 riders to start Monday’s Prologue at the Tour of Utah, Team Elevate-KHS rider James Piccoli knew exactly what he needed to do. Early in the day, Rally-UHC’s Kyle Murphy covered the 3.2-mile course in 8:49. Shortly thereafter, American Lawson Craddock took the hot seat with a scintillating 8:43.
Piccoli dug in, ascending two vicious climbs before ducking into an aerodynamic tuck on the downhill section of the course. Navigating a sharp, left-handed turn near the finish, Piccoli sprinted the final 500 meters, winning the stage and taking a six-second lead with a time of 8:37.
“Today was a really tough road with the elevation and the corners and some tricky up and down pacing,” Piccoli said.
Coming into the 2019 Tour of Utah, Team Elevate-KHS seems like it is on a mission. The pro cycling team came to Utah nearly a month in advance to acclimate to elevation and ride each of the stages to get comfortable with the course.
On Monday, that advance course knowledge paid off.
“We came to see it a couple days ago and since then I've ridden this stage a couple times,” Piccoli said. “I rode it several times hard and every time I sort of got focused on what I wanted to do and today it worked out.”
Finishing behind Piccoli was EF Education rider Craddock. The American trained this summer in his home state of Texas before venturing to Utah several weeks ago with his team.
“The altitude really makes a big difference,” Craddock said.
After his ride, Craddock noted it took about 90 minutes before he didn't feel like throwing up anymore.
“For me I knew it was better to be conservative over the first climb then really lay it down over the last 1.5 kilometers of climbing,” he said.
Just behind Craddock and credited with the same time was Worthy Pro Cycling's Serghei Tvetcov. Every rider navigating the final 500 meters had to brake to a screeching halt before diving into a downhill left turn. Tvetcov said that turn gave him a scare on Monday afternoon.
“You have to break to almost zero and then start again,” Tvetcov said. “That last turn was a little dangerous, I lost my brakes for a bit and my wheel slid, but it was a great course.”
While Monday's stage served as a warmup for the rest of the week, it did not separate the field. After Monday's prologue, 25 riders find themselves within 30 seconds of the overall lead. Among those top 25 are 2015 Tour of Utah winner Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First), 2016 winner Lachlan Morton (EF Education First) and the 2017 winner, Rally-UHC cyclist Rob Britton.
Piccoli’s confidence for himself and his team only grew after winning the prologue and wearing the yellow jersey, something he said his team will cherish and try to defend as long as they can.
“Judging by the stages to come and some of the climbs that are planned I don't think seven seconds is going to be the difference between winning and losing,” he said. “It is a really good confidence boost to kind of blow the legs out and show that we have good form.”
Following Monday’s prologue that favored the elite climbers, Tuesday finds the Tour of Utah in northern Utah, specifically Logan. After traversing the western slopes of the Bear River, cyclists pass through the town of Newton before making two circuits around Little Mountain. Eventually the cyclists get back to North Logan where they will complete five 7.2-mile laps around the city.
Overall results (top-10)
1. James Piccoli — Elevate-KHS 8:37
2. Lawson Craddock — EF Education First 8:43
3. Serghei Tvetcov — Worthy Pro Cycling 8:43
4. Joao Almeida — Hagens Berman Axeon 8:43
5. Kyle Murphy — Rally UHC Cycling 8:49
6. Gavin Mannion — Rally UHC Cycling 8:52
7. Joe Dombrowski — EF Education First 8:52
8. Guillaume Boivin — Israel Cycling Academy 8:53
9. Keegan Swirbul — Worthy Pro Cycling 8:54
10. Travis McCabe — Worthy Pro Cycling 8:54