The title sponsor of Israel-Premier Tech has ended its association with the cycling team with immediate effect after protests against the team’s participation in races and despite the outfit saying it would undergo a full rebrand for the 2026 season to operate under a new name.
Canadian company Premier Tech said on Friday it had broken off its sponsorship deal after the team was targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters at several races this year, with stages of the Vuelta a Espana grand tour in August and September disrupted by demonstrators before the race was abandoned by organisers.
The sponsors removed their full name from riders’ jerseys at the Vuelta.
The team, owned by Canadian-Israeli property developer Sylvan Adams, was created in 2014 by Ron Baron and Ran Margaliot and is based in Israel.
It was also subject to isolated protests during the sport’s other two main stage races: the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, and had been accused of sportswashing by pro-Palestine groups.
After the Vuelta, the Canadian multinational Premier Tech called for the team to change its name to remove “Israel” and to adopt a new identity and brand image.
The team agreed to move away from its “Israeli identity”.
However, the Canadian-based manufacturer and horticulture firm Premier Tech said it would step down as co-title sponsor of the team with immediate effect.
“Although we took notice of the team’s decision to change its name for the 2026 season, the core reason for Premier Tech to sponsor the team has been overshadowed to a point where it has become untenable for us to continue as a sponsor,” the company added.
“We want to thank the team – riders and staff – for the four unforgettable seasons by their side, and to acknowledge their incredible accomplishments and professionalism, both on and off the road.”
Canadian cyclist Derek Gee, who finished fourth overall at this year’s Giro d’Italia, also left Israel-Premier Tech shortly before the Vuelta over what he described as “personal beliefs”.
Last month, Gee said he was facing a damages claim of 30 million euros ($35m) from the team.
In September, a United Nations inquiry found that Israel’s war on Gaza was a genocide and held the Israeli government responsible for the war that has killed at least 68,875 Palestinians.
Although the team is privately-owned rather than state-run, Adams had dubbed himself an unofficial ambassador for Israel, and the outfit had been hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to quit the Vuelta ahead, despite protests, until the race was eventually abandoned.
In October, Adams stepped back from his day-to-day involvement with the team and no longer speaks on its behalf.
The team joined the World Tour elite level of road racing before the 2020 season and in July that year recruited four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome.
Amid the pro-Palestine protests at the Vuelta, Spanish Sports Minister Pilar Alegria had called for a ban on Israeli sports teams in the same way that Russian sides broadly were banned in 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine, highlighting a “double standard”.
“It is difficult to explain and understand that there is a double standard,” Alegria told Spanish radio station Cadena SER in September.
“Given that there has been such a massacre, a genocide, such an absolutely terrible situation we are living through day-by-day, I would agree that the international federations and committees should take the same decision as in 2022,” she added.
