The return 2025 will not be the Jonas Vingegaard nor that of any of the other cyclists and teams that have spent weeks pedaling through the ports of Spain. The 2025 return is and will be for the story ‘The return of the proportions’the same as They marked their stages In Basque Country or Galicia and what They have frustrated His grand final in Madrid. The return of 2025 will also be something else: the competition that shows us that the financed/sponsored teams aligned with states marked in one way or another by the controversy, such as EAU, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (or in this case Israel) can become watchmaking pumps.
And that is something that transcends Spain.
What happened? We said it before: that very much that of 2025 will not be the return of Vingegaardnot that of his team, Visma Lease-A-Bike. The prominence has been monopolized by another group for reasons that have little to do with sport: Israel-Primer Tech (ITP)an UCI Pro Team qualification with Headquarters in Tel Aviv And in the hands of Sylvan Adamsan entrepreneur who It has not hidden His good harmony with Benjamin Netantayahu. Itp’s role as Israel representative in the middle of Gaza’s genocide has caused a deep discomfort in part of Spanish society, which has marked several stages of the cycling return with footprint protests.
Has it so serious? Yes. We saw it Two weeks ago In Bilbao, where the protesters left moments of tension and forced those responsible for the return to end the stage Three kilometers Before the goal. It happened again in Galicia, where cyclists found even A tree crossed on the road. And he repeated himself yesterday on the final day, in Madrid. Not even the huge Police deploymentwith hundreds of police, he prevented the one who should be the golden clasp of the competition Be ruined: The stage ended earlier than expected, without podium.
In between about twenty stages marked by the controversy and an increasing tension that even led the technical director of the competition, Kiko García, to slide that he only saw “a solution” to the problem: that IPT itself understood that its presence between the squad compromised the test. Little served. Nor that neither Threats of the cyclists to stand up to the Tel Aviv team, which only lent themselves to Delete the mention To your country in the jersey.
Why is it important? Beyond what he has implied for the 2025 Vuelta, one of the great appointments of international cycling, what happened on the roads of Spain reveals some things about cycling and of course the future of Israel First-Tech. His odyssey in the Iberian competition may have finished, but in Quebec he has already encountered similar protests of annoying activists for their participation in the city grand prize. At the moment IPT He has resigned to take a measure similar to the one he adopted in Spain and retouch his name.
The objective is to save episodes such as those lived in recent weeks in Spain, very difficult to avoid in great tests such as the return. Cycling has a world audience that follows its evidence through traditional networks, websites and media, as well as basketball or tennis, but unlike those sports, their competitors beat copper in kilometric stages, impossible to control one hundred percent, as well as well Madrid has proven.
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Is it the only problem? No. What happened in Spain reminds us of something else: the ‘watchmaking pump’ that the equipment that in one way or another is linked to controversial states, either through sponsorship or financing or (IPT case) for its clear alignment with their governments. An especially serious problem when we talk about cyclist tournaments in which, as we pointed out before, it is almost impossible to have total control over the layout and prevent protests. It is not something exclusive to the Vuelta, nor from Israel-Primer Tech and the state of Israel.
United Arab Emirates is represented, for example, the UAE Team Emirates XRGa professional team of the UCI WTORLDTEAM category that assures which aims to “represent the entire nation.” In front it has Kill Suhail Al Yabhouni, trusted man of the heir prince of Abu Dhabi, and among his sponsors includes key signatures of the country, such as Emirates, FAB either Ich.
The Australian team Jayco Alula (UCI Worldteam) also counts among its main sponsors to Al-ulain Saudi Arabia. And something simulate occurs in Baréin, represented in professional cycling by TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUSwhich as they recognize have “A strong connection” With the kingdom, a link “represented by the proud support of the Bahréin Economic Development Board, Bapco, Batelco, the Bahréin National Bank, to Salam Bank and Alba, among others.”
And the case of Israel Tech-Premier? IPT is marked by its link with Israel and the tune of one of its maximum responsible with Netanyahu. That has weighed in his participation in the return and promises to do it in Other competitions. In his Official website The team does not cite the Hebrew State as a direct financier and Its origins (11 years ago, like Israel Cycling Academy) They were marked by the involvement of businessman Ron Baron and the former Ran Margaliot. However, the team has been positioning itself as an informal representative of the country worldwide. In fact claims that “he sees himself as an ambassador.”
Since 2022 its main sponsor is the Canadian company Premier Tech and the main figure at the head of the team is Sylvan Adamsa millionaire with A key weight in the World Jewish Congress to whom It is attributed A narrow friendship with Netanyahu and the Sportwashingimage washing through sport.
“In physical war we have done miracles with things that seem science fiction, but in the war of communications we are failing miserable,” I lamented recently Adams in JNS. “The situation is getting worse and worse for us and this manifests itself in the terrible anti -Semitism in the world. We need to take it much more seriously.” In 2018 his role was crucial for another world cycling test, the turn, Start in Israel.
What does Netanyahu say? Throughout the last weeks as The Observer either The country They have slipped that, although IPT is a private team that does not finance the Israeli State, it has received a certain amount of the Ministry of Tourism. What both parties have made clear, both Adams and Netantah His clear tuning. The most obvious evidence was left by Israeli prime minister a few days ago, when he published A tweet openly supporting IPT and the entrepreneur in the face of proportions. “Excellent work, Sylvan and Israel’s cycling team for not giving in to hatred and intimidation! They make Israel proud!”
Is it sport or politics? In cases like Premier Tech the border is blurred. During the return the ICU He has insisted In “the political neutrality, the independence and autonomy of the sport” while the organization and the return remembered that it was not in its hand expelled IPT because it had been classified by sports merits, adjusting to the normative. “We cannot make any decision because the regulation forces us to be running. Any decision in that sense can lead us to lose our career in the calendar,” assured Kiko García, technical director of the competition days ago.
In recent weeks the looks have even directed further, To the International Olympic Committeewhich did decided veto Russia of its competitions following the war in Ukraine. IPT is not in any case the only example of the difficult (and controversial balance) between sport and geopolitics, something that other disciplines have suffered in the past, such as Soccer or even those Olympics.
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