No more elite pro cycling based in Israel. It’s all done.

Premier Tech, the second title sponsor of the team formerly known as Israel Premier Tech, has dropped its sponsorship of the team, following in the footsteps of the other major sponsor, Factor Bikes (which pulled out last week).

Although the team had dropped the word “Israel” from its name and the majority owner of the team, Canadian-Israeli Sylvain Adams, agreed to step back from day-to-day operations, the damage had already been done and showed no signs of slowing down. Organizers of next year’s Tour de France Grand Depart (opening stage) in Barecelona, Spain made it clear that an Israeli team would not be welcome in Spain unless the team moved its base of operations and registry outside of Israel. Other race organizers have said that they do not want any Israeli team racing in their events because the mere presence of such a team would spark more violent protests similar to those that halted the Vuelta de Espana in September.

I add to that the news that Premier Tech’s star rider has been trying to end his contract early and leave the team for weeks, and clearly the writing is on the wall. There is no word of anyone stepping forward with an offer to buy and move the team, and it’s strong Israel-identified history may be too much for another prospective owner to take on.

If you read the comments at the various cycling news websites, you’ll find that the commentators are running five to one in favor of disbanding the team entirely. A few even suggest that no new elite pro cycling team be allowed to take out a UCI racing license if they are based in Israel or majority-owned by an Israeli. 

All of this effectively spells the end of the team that began as Israel Cycling Academy over a decade ago.

(If you click on the Google link for Israel Premier Tech, you’ll discover that the link now goes nowhere. The team’s Facebook page is still up, but has not been updated since November 5.)

Interestingly, another country, United Arab Emirates, serves as a home base for another pro cycling team and also hosts a stage race each year. Color me cynical, but I suspect that nothing will be done or even said about this parallel reality. After all, the UAE team is profitable and so is the UAE Tour. Plus, they’re oil-rich. Plus, they’re not Jewish. 

..::ducks to avoid flying debris::..

For the foreseeable future, people will find any number of ways and reasons to make non-political things selectively political, and it will continue to be hard to be openly Jewish in many, many places around the world. And there is not a thing I can do about that.