The proper protests that followed throughout Spain during the cycling return not only forced Sylvan Adams, the owner of the Israel-Premier Tech team and intimate friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, to withdraw the name of his country from the jersey, but now They could even leave him without his main sponsors. Both Premier Tech, the company that gave name to the team next to the name of Israel, as a factor, that gives bicycles to the team, They have threatened to leave if the set does not detach from the country that according to the United Nations commits a genocide in Gaza.
In, the founder of the Bike Factor brand, Rob Gitelis, explained his ultimatum to Adams. “I already told the team: without a change of name, without a change of flag, we will not continue”he said after recognizing that “it is not a personal issue of supporting this or that”, but simply of “a certain level of controversy” that its brand cannot be allowed. In the same line, the Premier Tech Canadian company has been expressed, from where They expect the team to “evolve towards a new name that excludes the word Israel, adopting a new identity and a new brand image”.
Although during the return the Israeli team wore the name of the country proudly that according to the UN commits a genocide in Gaza, before stage 14 and after the manifestations that some previous sections of the circuit came to interrupt, the team of the team of Sylvan Adams announced that he would withdraw the word Israel from the chest of his eight cyclists. “In order to prioritize the safety of our cyclists and the entire squad, in view of the dangerous nature of some protests in the Vuelta, Israel-Premier Tech has provided cyclists with a kit with the team monogram for the rest of the race,” the set published in their social networks. But that decision was not limited to Spain. In Canada, where there were also protests against their participation in the great Awards of Quebec and Montreal, they did the same. “The team asked us to eliminate any reference to Israel in the circuit, and will run with a different jersey in our tests”Said the director of the two appointments. Adams, by the way, is Canadian.
While the team is not state -owned, Sylvan Adams has never hidden that his goal is to use his presence in the international circuit to boost Israel’s image. “Since I moved to Israel, I have assumed the role of self -proclaimed ambassador, in general, of Israel. […] I consider our entire team and each of our cyclists as ambassadors in our country, “Adams said after announcing that they would participate in the Tour of France of 2023 with a jersey” of special edition to highlight Israeli tourism on the world cycling stage. “In that same statement, Adams thanked” the Ministries of Tourism, Culture and Sports of Israel for their confidence and support. “
the former Israel-Premier Telesandro de Marchi said that “a clear policy of the team” was “to show the beauty” of Israel. It was “A lighter propaganda, where Israel’s vision was projected”. De Marchi left the team in 2023 after two years. Now, he says he feels “happy and relieved.” “I would have cost me a lot to be there now and it would have had a very bad time. I will not criticize anyone who runs there because each one is free to decide, but right now I would not sign a contract with Israel. I could not control my feelings if I got involved in something like that,” he said before they comment Cycling “has to demonstrate that human rights violations and international law are concerned”.
The warning of Premier Tech and Factor, motivated not only by the protests in the Vuelta but by the complaints that the team has lived in the last two years, leaves Adams in a complicated position. The owner and self -proclaimed Israel ambassador agreed, according to Cyclingnewsin changing the name, but “I had assumed that the flag of the team was still Israeli”. Adams could opt to lose sponsorship or move the property of the whole to Canada, his native country, although he would then have to assume that he could no longer wash Israel’s image through cycling. In any case, it doesn’t have much time. October 15 is the deadline established by the International Cycling Union (ICU) so that the teams register their nationality.
