NEWS Israel Cycling Academy to race in the Tour de France

By Adam Smulevich

“Our team will be made up of four Israelis and sixteen non-Israelis, Jews, Christians and Muslims. Diversity is in our DNA and the strength of Israel-Start Up Nation. We’re ready for some brand new challenges and we will participate for the first time ever in the Tour de France”. Sylvan Adams, full of enthusiasm, has recently presented in Tel Aviv the new team formed by Israel-Start Up Nation (the new name of Israel Cycling Academy), the first Israeli professional cycling team.

After participating in the Giro d’Italia, they have announced in style their intention to run in the Tour de France and UCI World Tour.

“We’ve got the opportunity to step onto the most important stages,” explained in front of journalists from around the world Adams, an Israeli-Canadian philanthropist with a passion for cycling and the main promotor of the departure of the Giro from Jerusalem.

“These 30 athletes will proudly wear the colours blue and white. Our voice will be heard and we will be winners,” asserted Adams, then focusing on the new partnership with Start-Up Nation Central, a non-profit organisation dealing with the creation of bonds between people coming from different social backgrounds, both Israelis and non-Israelis. Hence the name of the team, which, according to Adams, “exemplifies well this country’s DNA envisaging innovation and change.”

Among the cyclists on whom the Israeli team is betting also appears Davide Cimolai, from Friuli a familiar face in Italian cycling who has renewed his membership in Israel Cycling Academy this summer. During a press conference, a lot of the attention was on the two Israeli athletes in whom the team hold great hopes: Guy Sagiv and Guy Niv. “We must be ready not only mentally but also physically to the Tour de France and other competitions,” declared Sagiv.

Translated by Mattia Stefani and revised by Claudia Azzalini, both students at the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreting and Translation of Trieste University and interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.