The Israel-Tech Premier team will start with his cycling professionals at the Canadian World Tour race on Friday in Québec and 48 hours later in Montreal in jerseys without references to his home country. In response to the repeated hostility and attacks by propalestinian activists at the current vuelta in Spain, the team competes in both competitions under the abbreviation IPT.
According to race director Joseph Limare, the initiative was based on the temporary renaming from the team itself. “They asked us to remove everything where the word Israel appears,” said Limare.
As in Spain, radical sympathizers of the Palestinians should also plan protests against the drivers of the Israeli team against the background of the Gaza War, according to Canadian media. The organizers of the races and the responsible authorities of the two racing locations emphasized at a joint press conference that all necessary measures to ensure the security of IPT professionals and also the public would be taken.
At Vuelta, the team of the Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, which is publicly supported by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reacted to the interference maneuvers against his professionals last weekend. The lettering “Israel” was removed from the jerseys after the stable had previously made the name of its home country on team vehicles and team outfits such as training suits.
The team, which, according to Adam’s ideas, acts as ambassador of Israel, called his approach a measure “for the security of our drivers and the entire field in view of the dangerous nature of some protests”. The Israel Prime Minister Tech team was not officially changed until Thursday.