Race Report: 2026 Salt Lake Criterium - ACC Men’s Pro Race
Race: 2026 Salt Lake Criterium - ACC Men’s Pro Race
Date: August 15, 2026
AVRT racers: Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 20th of 60
Course: 0.55 mile square near Salt Lake City downtown in an up and coming warehouse/brewery district. Original course was impacted by construction so they last minute pivoted to the short 1 block by 1 block square
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/19760263947/
Nutrition: Pre race redbull plus a 100g bottle of malto gatorade
Race Recap:
Salt Lake City Criterium was the 5th stop on the season long professional crit calendar in the US called the American Crit Cup (ACC). I had a goal at the start of the season to get a top 20 in one of these ACC national calendar races and got pretty stomped in Chicago so I was having a hard time buying into that. My plan was to let legion and other big teams cover everything and not blow myself up too early in the race, especially considering how hot it was and the altitude we were at.
Race went exactly according to plan. Legion took the front early and rode tempo all day for the field, keeping it relatively strung out on the square course. I didn’t think race would be that attritional on such an easy course, but folks still struggled with the pace. By the time we got to the hour mark there were maybe 40 people left in the field.
All race it had been easy to move up on the wider corners 1 and 2 and then conserve positions in corners 3 and 4. If you were confident in pedalling through the corners, it was pretty easy to move around the pack. The straights were so short that you really had to carry momentum out of corners to pass people there. I spent time everywhere from the front of the field to very back after getting put back in after a crash.
As racing really picked up with 10 laps to go, it was time to get the elbows out and go crit racing. Every lap I would get some wheels through my favorite corner 1 and 2 combo and then ride the washing machine as we slowed into corner 3. With 3 laps to go, I found myself on a college buddies wheel, who I know is automatic for a top 10 in crits so I decided to stick on his wheel. Unfortunately a lap later he would get a rear flat that he only noticed as we began to hit a high speed corner. His slight hesitation in the corner caused a gap to open which I immediately spent a bullet to get across. I caught back to the steaming field around 1 to go but really had not much juice left. Last lap was lightning fast with nowhere for my tired legs to move up and stayed right where I was at.
When we crossed the line, I thought I was more like 30th and kind of bummed about the flat I got caught behind late but when we saw the results I found out I had finished in 20th!! So mission accomplished for the season. Pretty stoked on my first top 20 at an ACC race and ready to run it back at some more of these races next season!
-Jon
Salt Lake Criterium - Day 2
Date: August 16, 2026
AVRT racers: Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 35th of 60
Course: 0.55 mile square in opposite direction as day before near Salt Lake City downtown in an up and coming warehouse/brewery district. Original course was impacted by construction so they last minute pivoted to the short 1 block by 1 block square
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/19773065551
Nutrition: Pre race redbull plus a 100g bottle of malto gatorade
Race Recap:
Sunday had another race with the same field and course as night before but the direction was reversed and we turned left instead. Plan was to be a lazy sprinter again since it had gone alright the day before. Unfortunately, Legion has different plans for today. After executing their Justin Williams leadout perfectly on Saturday, they came out swinging for breakaways on day 2 which set the tone for everyone.
Many little groups got separation but things would come back together when a few strong individuals had missed out. Eventually, about 15 minutes into the race, a large group got separation that had most of the motivated guys in it and they went clear. The break (field split?) of ~15 guys started moving away and the field sat up the few teams were well represented and all the strong individuals had already bridged. I tried to bridge across when the gap was still ~20 seconds but I didn’t have the legs to ride down that many motivated dudes.
Once swpet back into the field, we sat up and soft pedaled, waiting to be lapped. Team Clif Bar eventually realized what was happening and didn’t seem to want the break to lap the field, liking their chances from a break instead so they started drilling it. But it was still a quesitonable tactic because they initially let the gap swell out but then only started ripping the front once the break was like 15 seconds from lapping up, which was way too late for that kind of effort.
After the break lapped up we started riding pretty hard again. Lots of gaps started to form towards the end of the race throughout the peleton, as I think there were lots of tired legs and it was really hot since we raced in the middle of the afternoon. I had a pretty unspectacular last few laps and came in near the back of the front group after I decided I didn’t need to field sprint for 16th place since we were all lapped. Overall good weekend of racing in Utah!
-Jon