Riley Pickrell of Israel – Premier Tech is ending the 2024 season with a bang. At the last WorldTour race of the year, the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, he’s achieving great results.
He started off the race with a ninth place on the first day in Fangchenggang; the 149.4 km opening stage was a bunch sprint won by Lionel Taminiaux of Lotto Dstny. After finishing in the bunch the next day, he podiumed at the 214 km stage from Jingxi to Bama. Stage 2 was won by his teammate Ethan Vernon, with Pickrell coming in third. Juan Sebastián Molano of UAE Team Emirates was second. On Friday, Pickrell was back in the mix once more, finishing 7th at Stage 4 from Bama to Jinchengjiang, covering a total of 176.8 km.
Riding with the big boys
This is the first year in the big leagues for the 23-year-old Victoria native. He rode for the Continental feeder team of IPT, Israel Premier Tech Academy, from 2021 to 2023, before signing for the WorldTour squad for 2024 and 2025. He had high hopes for his first Grand Tour in 2024, the Giro d’Italia, but things didn’t go as planned. Pickrell crashed hard during Stage 5 (as did his teammate Mike Woods). The crash affected his face, and his nose required a stitch. The morning of Stage 6, he was feeling fine, but the team was concerned. “Although he is feeling well enough to start,” IPT said in a statement, “some slight confusion has been identified, and the team is not willing to take the risk given the possibility of concussion. Riley needs time to recover, and today’s stage is too risky, so the team has made the difficult decision to withdraw him from the race.”
“I’m super disappointed,” he said afterward. “Leaving your first Grand Tour is something no rider wants to do. I came here wanting to finish the race. Obviously, getting through a Grand Tour is such a big accomplishment for any rider. Hopefully, I can get this opportunity again, and I can come back and make it to the finish.”
Pickrell bounced back from his Giro withdrawal with a big win in Romania in July. He took his first win as a pro at Stage 2a of the Sibiu Cycling Tour, beating Italian Giacomo Nizzolo (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Roger Kluge (Rad-Net Osswald). There are two stages remaining at the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, but Stage 5 features a hilly finish. Stage 6, however, looks suited for Pickrell to take another big result if it ends in a sprint.
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