Photo: Casey B. Gibson
AEVOLO KICKS OFF USPRO NATIONALS
CAMPAIGN WITH TIME TRAIL
June 25th, 2017
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Aevolo Cycling kicked off US Pro Nationals weekend in downtown Knoxville with Zeke Mostov taking 12th place in the time trial, clocking a 39:04 on the 30.7 km course. His teammate, Gage Hecht, finished in 18th place with a time of 39:27.
Both riders put in stellar performances, competitive with the best riders in the nation. The stars and stripes jersey was won by BMC’s Joey Rosskopf.
“My legs felt pretty solid today,” Mostov said. “I went into the race with pretty low confidence because it’s been a few years since I felt strong on a time trial bike. I ended up being able to up the pace very lap and felt strong throughout. I think I could have gone faster if I started out a bit quicker, but this TT is a good confidence boost heading into U23 nationals where I think I can build on my ride today.
Hecht, part of the team that came from a block of two Canadian stage races, said his legs felt better than expected.
“It definitely suited me pretty well,” Hecht said. “My cross background helped. The course had little tiny recovery sections where you could get a little bit of rest to reset your mental state. I think that helped quite a bit, along with the laps. I was able to break it up into sections.”
Tomorrow, the team will line up five riders for the 109-mile (179km) USPro national road race. The 7.9-mile (12.8km) circuit will be covered 14 times by the men.
“For the majority of the team, it’s the first time we’ve ever raced against World Tour riders,” Mike Hernandez said. “This will come with a learning curve, but I think the team will show the our colors well in the breakaways. Coming off of Tour de Beauce, I think the team learned a lot on the first stage when we managed to put five riders in the breakaway that decided the rest of the race.”
The race starts at 1:30pm EDT will be streamed live on the USA Cycling YouTube channel, http://bit.ly/2tHzYFH.
US Pro Nationals Road Race roster:
Lance Haidet
Michael Hernandez
Ezekiel Mostov
Tyler Stites
Gage Hecht