The Quebec company Premier Tech is back on the Cycling World Tour.
A few months after cutting ties with Astana, a team owned by the government of Kazakhstan, the Rivière-du-Loup company announced on Thursday that it had entered into a four-year partnership with the Israel Start-Up Nation team, which will be renamed. Israel-Premier Tech as of the 2022 season.
In a press release, the company says “reiterates[er] its commitment to advancing high performance cycling in Canada and globally ”.
In 2021, its second season on the World Tour, Israel Start-Up Nation finished at 10e rank of the general classification.
In fact, not only is the team the property of the Israeli-Montreal businessman Sylvan Adams, but it also has five runners from here: the Quebecers Hugo Houle, Guillaume Boivin and James Piccoli as well as the Ontarians Michael Woods and Alexander Cataford. The sporting director of training, Steve Bauer, is also Canadian.
This announcement, the statement said, comes after “several months of reflection and exploration.” Premier Tech had indeed prematurely ended its association with Astana after a dispute with sports manager Alexandre Vinokourov, appointed by the Kazakh government.