November 1/17 17:38 pm - Aevolo Announces 2018 Roster

Posted by Editoress on 11/1/17
 

Coming off a highly successful inaugural year, Aevolo has boosted the size of its roster to 12 riders for the 2018 season. Seven riders have re-signed, while five riders will don the green and gold Aevolo colors for the first time. Among the riders returning will be Canada's Laurent Gervais

Laurent Gervais

"With Jack (Burke), Jokin (Extabe) and Zeke (Mostov) moving on, we had to bring in five new riders," Aevolo Team Director Mike Creed said. "Alex Hoehn and Fernando Islas will bolster our time trial strength, something we lacked a little of in 2017. Denzel Stephenson is going to add to our bread and butter strength as a team he's strong, quick and aggressive. Kenny Boots is still a Junior, so he won't be on our UCI team. However, we can have him on the roster in races like Redlands where we hope to help build his fitness level, give him a chance to show off his time trial skills and build towards the Junior worlds time trial in a stress-free environment. Last, but not least is Nick McKey. At Junior nationals this year, I could see Nick was clearly the most relaxed, intuitive and well-rounded rider. I think other teams made a big mistake by not approaching Nick and their loss is our gain."

The combined palmares of the incoming riders include several national titles in an assortment of cycling disciplines. Islas is Mexican national Junior champion in both the time trial and road race, Boots owns a national Junior road title (15-16 category) and Stephenson is Junior cyclo-cross national champion.

Among the returning riders is powerhouse Gage Hecht, who took a win at Redlands Classic and close second in the road race at this year's U23 national championships. Hecht will be joined by Luis Villalobos, winner of the best young rider competition at Cascade Classic and Michael Hernandez, fourth on stage 2 of the 2017 Tour of Alberta. U23 cyclocross champion Lance Haidet, Jason Saltzman, Tyler Stites and Laurent Gervais have also signed with Aevolo for another year, rounding out a tough, cohesive young squad.

Hernandez said he's looking forward to a second season racing with teammates that have a solid chemistry on and off the bike and is excited about the additional firepower.

"I think the edition of Alex and Kenny really improves our team," Hernandez said. "Alex really showed his strength all last year in a variety of different races. Kenny will still be a Junior next year so it will be interesting to see how he adapts to racing the Pro Road Tour races. Being Junior national time trial champion shows he's plenty strong. I've never met the three other signings personally, but by reputation I have no doubt they will bring the right attitude to mesh and enhance with our program."

Aevolo 2018 roster
Kenny Boots (USA)
Denzel Stephenson (USA)
Fernando Islas (MEX)
Nick McKey (USA)
Alex Hoehn (USA)
Luis Villalobos (MEX)
Jason Saltzman (USA)
Michael Hernandez (USA)
Laurent Gervais (CAN)
Lance Haidet (USA)
Tyler Stites (USA)
Gage Hecht (USA)