After several weeks of turmoil, controversy and protest, Israel-Premier Tech closed their social media accounts and website on Saturday morning.
The move comes ahead of an expected rebrand after pro-Palestine protests at the Tour de France and more recently at the Vuelta España. There, a number of stages were disrupted, with finish lines moved mid-race and the final stage declared null and void, the podium celebrations also cancelled, and an impromptu ceremony taking place in a hotel car park.
The team also withdrew from a raft of late-season races, and they have since announced they will be changing their name for 2026, though that is yet to be revealed.
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Premier Tech will not be involved, though, the Canadian company having ended their association with the team. Bike sponsor Factor also told the team that they could not continue unless the team moved away from their Israel branding.
After initial commitments to standing firm, the team confirmed in October that they would change their name and rebrand for 2026, with the details of their new name and registration expected in the coming weeks.
In a final Instagram post on Friday, the team announced they would be offline for a while, before adding their thanks to staff and riders departing the squad at the end of the year. Among those was Chris Froome.
“We want to take the chance to thank our departing staff for all of their hard work and, of course, the departing riders: Pascal Ackermann, Chris Froome, Riley Pickrell, Matthew Riccitello, Michael Schwarzmann, and Mike Woods,” read a post on the team Instagram account.
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“Thanks for the memories over the last years, we look forward to seeing you in the peloton next year or wherever the next chapter takes you!”
Froome has long been expected to retire at the end of his contract, and while that is yet to be officially confirmed, his departure from the squad leaves the four-time Tour de France winner aged 40 and without a team.
The Brit’s arrival at Sylvan Adams’ team was big news when he signed from Ineos Grenadiers in 2021. Despite a lack of results since his career-threatening crash at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, he was heralded as their stage race leader. However, since joining, he has failed to win a race, his most recent victory being the 2018 Giro d’Italia.
Indeed, he has rarely troubled the scorers since joining Israel-Premier Tech, settling into a domestique role as age and the lingering consequences of his 2019 crash took their toll. Other than second place in the team time trial at last year’s Tour du Rwanda, he scored only one other top 10 finish, memorably taking third place at Alpe d’Huez on stage 12 of the 2022 Tour de France, behind compatriot Tom Pidcock.
Froome’s final race for the team was the Tour of Poland where he finished 68th overall, before a training crash close to his Monaco home left him with fractured vertebrae, ribs and a collapsed lung. This injury only added to the speculation that he would retire at the end of 2025, with that looking increasingly likely now despite no formal announcement from the rider himself.
Of the other riders mentioned as leaving the team in Israel-Premier Tech’s post, Ackermann is moving to Jayco-AlUla, Pickrell to Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, Riccitello to Decathlon CMA CGM, while Schwarzmann’s destination is as yet unknown.
