Our Story
The vision behind Israel – Premier Tech springs from an ambitious idea of seeing an Israeli team at the start of the Tour de France, while providing opportunities for talented young Israelis to compete at an international level. In a short time, the team has grown from a small Continental-Level Team to one of the top WorldTour teams in the peloton.
The beginning
Israeli businessman Ron Baron and former rider Ran Margaliot laid the foundation with Israel Cycling Academy in 2014. These two men had a vision of generating a revolution in this underdeveloped sport in Israel, which – at the time – provided few opportunities for aspiring young cyclists. The team’s vision was to provide an opportunity for talented young cyclists to compete in the international arena and launch their professional careers. This team, Ran and Ron hoped, would provide inspiration, hope, and faith to future generations of Israelis. Soon after, Sylvan Adams, an Israeli-Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist, joined the project as co-owner, greatly accelerating the team’s development.
The Giro in Israel
In 2018, Adams helped bring the Giro d’Italia to start in Israeli and the team was handed a wild card, making its Grand Tour debut under the slogan from Jerusalem to Rome. Guy Sagiv became the first Israeli rider to complete a Grand Tour, as the race helped put Israel on the map on the international cycling scene, as nearly a billion TV viewers tuned in, making this the most successful Grande Partenza in the Giro’s then 101-year history. Additionally, a million Israelis came into the streets to watch and support the home team.
WorldTour status
The next big step forward came in 2020 as the team was granted a UCI WorldTour license, moving Israel Start-Up Nation, as it was then known, into the major league of cycling. “Our destiny was to become a WorldTour team,” stated Adams at the time. “We are now at the pinnacle of the sport and hope to prove that we firmly belong.” The team was now a prominent destination for top riders and managed to secure the signings of the likes of André Greipel and Dan Martin. The latter went on to win a stage in Vuelta a España, paying back the team by giving it its first Grand Tour win.
The philanthropic investors also increased their commitment to developing young Israeli talent by creating a new 15-rider Israel Cycling Academy Continental squad, a majority of whom are Israeli.
Upgrading the team
In 2021, 4x Tour de France winner, Chris Froome, joined the team together with Grand Tour stages winners Alessandro De Marchi, Michael Woods and Daryl Impey and Classics specialist Sep Vanmarcke, adding strength and depth to the roster. De Marchi went on to wear the pink leader’s jersey in the Giro d’Italia, while Woods wore the polka dot jersey in the Tour de France. Meanwhile, Martin took a beautiful victory on the penultimate mountain stage of the Giro.
Premier Tech comes onboard
For the 2022 season, Canadian company, Premier Tech, and its CEO Jean Bélanger, came onboard as new co-title partner with Olympic medalist Jakob Fuglsang and Italian super sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo joining the team. Israel – Premier Tech is now the name of the team and the goals for the future are more ambitious than ever. As Adams said: “We are just getting started!”
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