Eleven new riders – including reigning European and national age group champions, and the most promising Israeli talents – will strengthen the new-look IPT Academy team in 2024.
Under the guidance of Tim Elverson, IPT’s new Academy Manager, the team will look to continue the level of graduation that has seen six riders – Oded Kogut, Riley Pickrell, Nadav Raisberg, Marco Frigo, Mason Hollyman, and Derek Gee – step up to the pro ranks in the past two years.
Nine riders on the team’s 20-man roster raced for the Academy in 2023. Among these are Canadian Dylan Bibic, already a world champion on the track at the age of 20, and Portuguese climber Daniel Lima.
Israeli riders Aviv Bental and Rotem Tene will also stay with the Academy in 2024, with the country’s presence being bolstered by new signings Imry Faingezicht, Matar Peretz, and Guy Tahar.
Promising time trialist Faingezicht (20) won the U23 national title in the discipline last year, two years on from claiming the junior crown. Peretz, 18, is the country’s reigning junior road race champion, while 19-year-old Tahar, placed sixth in the U23 road race.
Photo: IPT Academy Manager Tim Elverson at the team’s Girona training camp in December
Other new arrivals include Floris Van Tricht (Belgium), Joe Blackmore (Great Britain), and Luke Valenti (Canada).
All three of them join the Academy having already established themselves in off-road disciplines: Van Tricht won the European Gravel Championships in October, Blackmore is the British U23 XCO mountain bike champion, and Valenti claimed the Canadian under-23 cyclo-cross title last November.
Added experience comes from Pier-André Côté, who has enjoyed five seasons riding at UCI ProTeam level and won the Canadian road race championships in 2022.
Elverson says: “We’ve got some really exciting new riders joining who will complement those who were part of the team in 2023. We have a real spread of riders who can compete in all disciplines.
“We’re very proud to continue the development of Israel’s best young riders – in 2024 we’ll have six of them aged 23 or under, and I’m excited to see what they can achieve.
“Pier-André will be invaluable to the team this year. We’re going to be competing at a lot of UCI .1-ranked races, and he has great experience in these events. This knowledge will only accelerate the progress of the younger riders in the team, but, at the same time, he’ll get opportunities to compete for results.”
Moritz Kretschy (Germany), Karl Kurits (Estonia), and Kiaan Watts (New Zealand) complete the incoming riders for 2024. Kretschy finished sixth in the under-23 road race at the world championships in Glasgow last August weeks after claiming the national road and time trial titles in his age group. Kurits is a promising young sprinter who has won international races as a junior, while Watts is a former junior world champion on the track.
IPT previously unveiled the signing of reigning Spanish junior road race champion Alvaro Garcia in August.
Israel – Premier Tech Academy 2024 team roster
Aviv Bental (Israel, 20)
Dylan Bibic (Canada, 20)
Joe Blackmore (Great Britain, 20)
Pier-André Côté (Canada, 26)
Luca D’Hollander (Belgium, 20)
Imry Faingezicht (Israel, 20)
Alvaro Garcia (Spain, 18)
Moritz Kretschy (Germany, 21)
Karl Kurits (Estonia, 18)
Daniel Lima (Portugal, 19)
Jesse Maris (USA, 19)
Pau Marti (Spain, 19)
Carson Mattern (Canada, 19)
Viggo Moore (USA, 19)
Matar Peretz (Israel, 18)
Guy Tahar (Israel, 19)
Rotem Tene (Israel, 22)
Luke Valenti (Canada, 19)
Floris Van Tricht (Belgium, 22)
Kiaan Watts (New Zealand, 22)
