Israel Cycling Academy has signed its first rider since taking over the Katusha-Alpecin team and transitioning it to the WorldTour.

The 28-year-old Canadian rider, who has been with Elevate KHS for the past three seasons, caught the team's attention at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah in August, winning the opening prologue time trial and finishing second overall on Israel Cycling Academy's Ben Hellmans

"I've been in a lot of races.

"A lot of teams were interested in signing me, but I chose ICA because they believed in me and had a great staff.

"They really believed that I could be a great rider one day, and they provided an environment where I could adapt to European racing while helping the team as much as possible.

Piccoli has spent most of his career in North America, but in 2014 he joined the Italian team Amore & Vita. The following season he moved to the Canadian team H&R Block, and in 2017 he moved to Elevate-KHS.

Aside from his results at the Tour of Utah, Piccoli has won the overall at the 2018 Tour de Beauce and the 2019 Tour of the Gila. He also won the overall at the 2017 Tour of Southland in New Zealand.

In 2019, he won a stage and placed second overall at the Tour of Taiwan, placed second in the Joe Martin stage race, won in the Gila, won the Mont Megantic stage in Bose, placed second overall in that stage, and placed second overall in Utah. [Israel Cycling Academy manager Kjell Carlstrom said, "James has great climbing legs. James has great climbing legs, but his qualities don't stop there."

Piccoli began discussions with the team before the Israel Cycling Academy jumped up to the World Tour and now has the opportunity to compete in some of the biggest races in the world.

"I'm a climber/GC rider, so I'll be the last one to help Dan [Martin] and Ben [Hellmans] in the hard races.

At 28 years old, jumping from the continental level to the World Tour is slower than most riders.

"I started cycling as a hobby with my dad when I was younger," he said. I majored in mechanical engineering in college." After a few years of twists and turns, I finally found a good home in Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling.

The newly formed Israel Cycling Academy announced the signing of Katusha Alpecin earlier this week. The Israeli team took over the management company that ran Katusha's team and acquired a World Tour license.

Paris-Roubaix runner-up Nils Pollitt is expected to make the jump to the new Israeli structure, along with several other players from the 2019 Katusha lineup. However, it is not yet known what the final roster will look like.