In his final season as a professional cyclist, Alessandro De Marchi has said he is “happy and relieved” not to be cycling for Israel-Premier Tech, having spent two years riding for the Israeli team between 2021 and 2022.
Speaking to The Observer, De Marchi, who moved to Jayco–AlUla in 2023, said he would no longer feel comfortable riding for Israel-Premier Tech due to Israel's continued war on Gaza.
“I would have really struggled to be there now and been in great difficulty,” he said. The 39-year-old said that he won’t criticise anyone who rides for the team, but he “wouldn’t be able to manage the feelings I have, to be able to be involved in something like that”.
Israel-Premier Tech aren’t a state-owned team, but they receive a small amount of money from Israel’s ministry for tourism. The team were founded in 2014 and funded by Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams and American businessman Ron Baron.
Adams has said the team can promote a “more realistic vision of Israel” and the riders can be “ambassadors for the country”. He has also called himself a “self-appointed ambassador at large for the State of Israel”. This year, he attended Donald Trump’s inauguration and in June encouraged Trump to attack Iran days before the US did so.
De Marchi said Israel-Premier Tech “gave me a chance to keep riding” and that he was “looking at the house I had to build and my family”.
“Of course now I am older and able to reflect in a way I didn’t five years ago, and I appreciate that in life there are times that, though it may be hard, it’s better to follow your morals. Right now I would do things in a different way,” he said.
De Marchi told The Observer he has spent the last year learning more about the history of the conflict. “Back then I really understood very little about Israel. The people behind the team had a desire to show off the beauty of the country – that was a clear policy of the team – but there were never any feelings against Gaza or Palestinians, or reference to the occupation in the West Bank.
“There was a lighter propaganda, let’s say, where the view of Israel was projected.
“You could feel it was a complex, divided society. But you could also see that there was no space to discuss Gaza.”
De Marchi said he would like the UCI to “address the war”, according to The Observer.
“We need to see real action from our governing body to position the cycling world on the right side and to show awareness of what’s going on in Gaza,” De Marchi said. “We have to show that as a cycling world we care about human rights and international law violations."
De Marchi’s comments come after the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement called for peaceful protests in April at this year’s Grand Tours against the participation of Israel–Premier Tech.
“As Israel escalates its ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and its violent military occupation of the West Bank, international sporting bodies have a moral obligation to take all measures to prevent genocide, or risk being held criminally liable,” the BDS movement said in an official statement.
Protests were visible at the Tour de France. Reuters reported that protesters waved Palestine flags and unfurled banners as the Tour peloton rode through Dieulefit on Wednesday 23 July.
An activist from Extinction Rebellion was also arrested in Toulouse after running onto the final straight on stage 11 in Toulouse wearing a T-shirt that read “Israel out of the Tour” while waving a keffiyeh scarf.
The Observer said it contacted Israel–Premier Tech and the team responded, saying they do not comment on “a personal opinion”.
