Israel-Premier Tech

Highlights from stage 9 of the Tour de France 2023. The iconic Puy de Dôme returns to the Tour de France for the first time in 35 years. Starting in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, the stage is 182.4km long with 3,611m of climbing. The final climb up Puy de Dôme (13.3km at 7.7%) is very narrow and devilishly steep, averaging almost 12% for the final 4km.

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Eruptions Up The Puy De Dôme! | Tour De France 2023 Highlights - Stage 9

Israel-Premier Tech was founded in 2015 with the aim of providing a place for Israeli cyclists to develop, but the team has gone through many different eras in its relatively short history. 

In 2017, the team began to grow, joining the ProConti ranks, and then in 2020 they joined the WorldTour with a truly international roster. They enjoyed three years this level, which brought them wins at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia and the arrival of Grand Tour superstar Chris Froome, but at the end of 2022, they found themselves relegated back to ProConti level. 

As the issue was points rather than budget, the team have retained a relatively strong roster for 2023, though they certainly have a notable contingent of riders who are in the latter stages of their career: Sep Vanmarcke, Simon Clarke, Daryl Impey. Their young talent comes in the form of Corbin Strong, Matthew Riccitello and Mason Hollyman, who will be hoping to score enough points to see the team promoted again at the end of the current licences cycle.

Stephen Williams

Corbin Strong

Derek Gee

Michael Woods

Dylan Teuns

Riley Sheehan

Tom Van Asbroeck

Sep Vanmarcke

Nick Schultz

Krists Neilands

Itamar Einhorn

Sebastian Berwick

Simon Clarke

Marco Frigo

Domenico Pozzovivo

Hugo Houle

Jakob Fuglsang

Matthew Riccitello

Ben Hermans

Giacomo Nizzolo

Jens Reynders

Mason Hollyman

Omer Goldstein

Guy Sagiv

Guillaume Boivin

Taj Jones

Rick Zabel

Daryl Impey

Reto Hollenstein

Chris Froome

Brady Gilmore

Mads Würtz Schmidt

Tech

News

Tech News

Why is the UCI planning to ban turned-in brake levers? GCN Tech Show

With the 2024 season fast approaching, there has been a lot going on this week in the world of tech and 

 is joined by a special guest in the form of 

 presenter Mark Threlfall to round up all of the news. It seems that, after beating 

, Mark has now been granted permission into the tech show.

UCI announced this week that they are looking to ban the aero-fuelled trend of turned-in levers

. They have cited safety concerns as the craving force behind this with restrictions set for 2024 and new regulations coming into effect in 2025.

Alex also discusses other things that the UCI has considered banning in the past, while Ollie spoke to one of the UCI’s technical advisors regarding tubeless tech. It turns out that in the aftermath of this year's Paris-Roubaix, which saw countless punctures and broken wheels, there had been discussions around banning tubeless systems from competition.

Finally, something else that the UCI had once wanted to ban that has since been embraced is the use of FPV drones to provide coverage inside cyclo-cross races. With the use of this technology commonplace in cyclo-cross and mountain bike events, it would be great to see this become more widely used in other disciplines too.

This week in hot and spicy tech we take a look at some of the latest WorldTour kits for the new season along with all the other headlines you may have missed.

The road racing season is just around the corner and with the new season comes new team kits. 

 have all released new kits this week. If you want to see how they look, check out our guide below.

Pro cycling kits 2024: What the WorldTour teams are wearing

Although strictly speaking this is a mountain bike component, the technology on display on the Ride Gemini Rigel chainring really stands out. The chainring uses an aluminum core to form the base of the structure and then uses forged carbon fibre to create the rest of the profile. The end result is a chainring that tips the scales at just 39 grams.

Zwift has announced further details of the Zwift Games

 announced that in March 2024 it would be holding the inaugural Zwift Games virtual racing series. The championship is split into three events: a sprint, hill climb, and epic. 

Zwift Games aims to be the 'biggest cycling esports competition to date'

Not only is this a competition for elite riders, but anyone with an indoor training set-up can enter and take part with community events for racers not looking to compete for the win. Zwift has announced the prize purse for the event this week with the total on offer being $110,000 split equally across each event and between male and female categories.

Strava has announced this year's festive 500

Between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, 

 has announced the return of the festive 500 challenge. To complete this riders need to ride 500 kilometres and upload it to Strava. It certainly requires dedication and motivation to complete this challenge. If you join the Strava club for the Festive 500 you could be in with a chance of winning a bike.

MET has announced the world's lightest e-bike-certified commuter helmet

 has been released as the lightest commuter helmet on the market that has been tested and certified for use on e-bikes. It features a built-in rear light and is available with or without the MIPS rotational protection system.

In response to the worst upgrades you can do to your bike video, plenty of you were quick to write in to tell us it is about the aesthetic appeal of the bike rather than any tangible performance upgrade.

In the bike vault this week is a rather blingy custom-built Pinarello Dogma F with gold bottle cages. We aren’t sure if it will be to everyone's taste but it certainly got our attention. If you want to submit your bikes to the bike vault make sure that you do it via the 

 uploader. We suggest that you get your submissions in fast with next weeks episode being a bike vault special.

Racing

Race News

Chris Froome plans cycling academy in Kenya but first wants to 'finish off' career with Tour de France fireworks

Chris Froome raced only 39 days in 2023, but will likely be seen at more stage races in 2024

Speaking publicly for the first time about what his post-racing career may hold for him, 

 has revealed plans for a cycling academy to be started in his name in his birth country of Kenya. 

The 38-year-old disclosed the idea to his friend and former teammate, 

"It has always been at the back of my mind wanting to do it, and I think now as I get towards the end of my career, it's the perfect time to start setting things up," said Froome. "Basically [we're] looking at starting a Chris Froome Cycling Academy out in Kenya at the base of Mount Kenya, up at altitude at 2,000m." 

Although he holds a British passport and an Olympic bronze medal from his time racing for Team GB, Froome was born in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi and explained that his experiences as a child at the Banda School left a lasting impact on him, which has given him the desire to promote cycling in East Africa. 

"I used to run cross-country back there and any time we did inter-school cross-country or anything, I'd just get killed by the Kenyans. They are obviously the best long-distance runners in the world. There was always a part of me all those years I was winning the Tour that kind of made me feel a little bit ridiculous, inadequate knowing that there are much better athletes - in the true sense of an endurance athlete - much better athletes than me back in East Africa.

"But they just haven't had access to bikes, cycling doesn't really exist there. They have no equipment, no training, no structure at all."

Froome is not alone in identifying East Africa as home to masses of untapped talent. In fact, his old team, Ineos Grenadiers, announced their own plans in 2022 to launch a cycling academy in Kenya alongside double Olympic running champion (and Ineos athlete), Eliud Kipchoge. 

Additionally, Team Amani is a project and cycling team based in Kenya's Rift Valley which seeks to champion the area's future sporting stars, with 

's Lachlan Morton recently attending the team's training camp ahead of 2024. 

In conversation with Thomas, Froome mentioned both projects and saw the movement as a positive initiative for East Africa, which the four-time 

 winner believes could be home to the sport's next great champions. 

"I genuinely think that within a 10-15 year time frame, we could see similar to how Colombians have burst onto the scene in the last decade," posited Froome. "I truly believe we're going to get a load of East Africans bursting through."

Colombia has of course given rise to some of cycling's most entertaining champions over the past couple of decades, including 

 and Vuelta a España winner Nairo Quintana (soon-to-be 

 (EF Education-EasyPost) and 2019 Tour de France champion, 

Should Froome's possible cycling academy have the desired effect, perhaps it may unearth Africa's first Tour de France champion, but for the time being, it is Froome himself who has all eyes set on a return to the race he once made his own next summer. 

Froome targets the breakaways and a stage win at the Tour de France

Froome missed out on selection for the Tour de France this year following a disappointing early-season campaign, but his ambitions to return to road cycling's biggest race has not waned in the slightest - with the 38-year-old insistent to Thomas that the Tour is his main target, not a ride at the Giro d'Italia or the Vuelta a España. 

"It would just be magic to be able to win a stage somewhere or find myself in a break that goes to the finish. Like last year coming third on Alpe d'Huez that was pretty magic, it would have been better if Tom [Pidcock] wasn't there," he laughed, "but just experiences like that."

In arguably his best performance since a career and life-threatening crash in 2019, Froome finished third on stage 12 of the 2022 Tour de France, with Thomas' teammate Tom Pidcock producing an unmatchable ride to come out the victor on Alpe d'Huez. Since that day, Froome has been unable to produce the same level of performance, but he has his eyes set on a grand farewell to the race he has won four times. 

"A win in the Tour for me now would just be super special, or even being closer, sort of with the GC guys, that would be a pretty special way for me to finish off."

However, when discussing Froome's ambitions with co-host Tom Fordyce at the end of the podcast episode, Thomas cast a shade of doubt on what the seven-time Grand Tour winner may be able to achieve 11 years on from his first Tour de France victory. 

"[It's] typical Froomey fashion, [he] just never gives up, slightly deluded really - in as polite a way as you can say." 

"That's just him, he's a winner and he wants to win, although he's quite far off that at the minute. But he's working hard and that's what he wants to do. We were in Best Buddies [a charity ride in Miami] for a few days together and I heard that he was just training like a monster already. That's the one thing with Froomey which is probably holding him back a little bit. I think he's kind of stuck in the 2010s almost, you know what I mean, like I think nutrition-wise and stuff, he's still a bit more into that rather than the new age nutrition... I think he's still quite old-school with that. But it would be nice to see him go out well."

Thomas and Froome have not raced against each other since the Santos Tour Down Under at the start of this year, but in 2024, they may be seeing a lot more of each other, with Froome intent on making a return to a stage-racing-focused calendar. 

"I'd like to do a lot more stage racing. This year I did quite a lot of one-day racing building up to the Tour and I can comfortably admit I'm not a one-day rider. I want to get into a good stage race programme, blocks of training and racing maybe back to old-school a little bit - what I was always used to."

Analysis

Can a new ‘sprint collective’ transform Israel-Premier Tech?

Corbin Strong only joined the team in 2022 but has already shown his talents

 head into the 2024 season with a new-look roster and a sense of optimism after making 10 signings over the winter.

The team has jettisoned their playbook of signing veterans and instead recruited a raft of exciting, if not fully developed, young talent. Out of their 10 recruits, only two riders are over the age of 30, while the new arrivals include 

Riley Sheehan turns professional with Israel-Premier Tech in 2024

 buck the trend with ages over 30 but there’s a clear and decisive strategy at the team, with a new focus on sprinters and lead-outs.

Ackermann is arguably the standout signing in terms of his accomplished palmarès, with three stage wins and a point jersey in the Giro d’Italia to his name, but the squad have added talent all across their depth chart. With Stewart, Schwarzmann and Hugo Hofstetter joining the likes of Corbin Strong, Tom Van Asbroeck and Rick Zabel the team is moving in a clear direction.

For a team that struggled for wins and dropped out of the WorldTour in recent times, the new additions give the roster a much-needed boost.

Isreal-Premier Tech's new contingent

“We’re really happy with the team. All in all, I think we were on the weak side when it came to sprinting and now we have more guys for the sprints and support riders,” Kjell Carlström, the team’s general manager, told 

“We have a collective. We’ll have WorldTour races, and there are two calendars within that, and it’s likely that we’ll have a third programme on the side. It means that you need sprinters who are on the top level, and to be able to compete with the top teams.”

Ackermann spent the last two years at UAE Team Emirates, and while he managed a stage win at the Giro this year, he failed to reach his best level. Part of that was down to the limited lead-out support he received at races, but Carlström is confident that the 29-year-old can win major races in 2024. At the same time, Ethan Vernon won seven races in two years at Soudal Quick-Step, and provides another potential outlet for success.

“I would say that Pascal is a renowned sprinter," Carlström said. "He may not have had the best possibilities over the last few years with lead-outs and everything but that’s something that we hope that we can create for him. Then with Ethan, he showed his capacity this year, and we hope he can build on that in the future. 

"We have Jake too, a fast lead-out rider and someone who can take his own chances when they present themselves. Corbin is really fast too in the really hard races. We saw that in Québec where he started fast and only one guy could come by him and he finished second.”

Strong is set to lead the team at the Tour Down Under in January, where he will be joined by Bennett and possibly Nick Schultz.

“I think Corbin is a good pick for Tour Down Under. He was racing well there last year until the crash that he had. He’s over there in New Zealand now so it’s good that he stays there and has a good start with some nice weather. At the moment I believe we’ll be focussing on Corbin at Tour Down Under. It’s not 100 percent written in stone but George and Nick could be with him at the race,” Carlström added.

Another young rider, Matthew Riccitello, could potentially make his Tour de France debut next year. The American made his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia in May of this year and is seen by many as a future GC star after finishing fourth at the Tour de l'Avenir following a stint in the leader’s yellow jersey that lasted until the final day of racing.

Matthew Riccitello: Learning lessons and gaining confidence as America’s next best thing

“It’s something that we need to look at together because the Tour is something different from all the other races. Everyone is there with the motivation to win, and it’s very hectic. I think next year there will be quite a few sprint stages,” Carlström told 

. “When we get the parcours for the Vuelta then we can have a better chance to look at possibilities for Matthew, whether it’s going to the Tour or the Vuelta. For him, it’s better not to rush the decision.”

The entire team will sit down for meetings this month as they gather for their final set of winter camps. In the coming weeks schedules and race programmes will be outlined and decided, with Mike Woods likely to race the Giro d’Italia and Chris Froome to ease himself into the season rather than start immediately.

'I feel five years younger' – Chris Froome ready to take on 2024 with fresh motivation

Carlström believes that Woods should target a stage win in the Giro d’Italia in a bid to complete his Grand Tour stage win set following victories in both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

“I think the big objective would be to go for a stage win. In my mind, the GC is a secondary possibility. In the end, GC is a big ambition so if you’re going to go for GC from the start then it could mean that you miss out on opportunities for a stage win. To go for GC and the podium, that’s a little bit too ambitious for us at the moment,” Carlström said.

“We’ll talk to the riders that we have during the camps in December. There have been some preliminary talks with riders and coaches but now it’s the time to define those programmes. I’m not sure what the end decisions will be but I think that Chris will start a little bit later.”

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Name	Age	UCI Career Wins	UCI Points
Stephen Williams	27	12	1504
Corbin Strong	24	3	1456
Derek Gee	26	2	1155
Michael Woods	37	16	1045
Dylan Teuns	32	17	1024

Israel-Premier Tech

Israel-Premier Tech

The Team

Top Israel-Premier Tech Stories

Why is the UCI planning to ban turned-in brake levers? GCN Tech Show

Chris Froome plans cycling academy in Kenya but first wants to 'finish off' career with Tour de France fireworks

Can a new ‘sprint collective’ transform Israel-Premier Tech?

Featured Video

Eruptions Up The Puy De Dôme! | Tour De France 2023 Highlights - Stage 9

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