Tel Aviv (AFP)
Israel unveiled Wednesday a team of cyclists for the Tour de France, a first for the Hebrew State who wishes to enter the court of major international sports events and present an image of "tolerance".
The new "Start-up Nation" will replace the Swiss team Katusha-Alpecin, a team of the World Tour - the highest level cyclist worldwide and therefore qualified for the Tour - bought by the Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams and d other investors.
Created on the foundations of the former Israel Cycling Academy team, formed in 2014, the new formation was named "Start-up nation" in reference to the spirit of enterprise and innovation of the country which stands out especially in the new information technologies, medicine, artificial intelligence.
Born in Quebec, Mr. Adams multiplies the events in order to boost the image of the Hebrew State abroad and was one of the architects of the friendly football match last month between Uruguay and the United States. Argentina, with Lionel Messi, in Tel Aviv.
"We will have our name, Israel, in the Tour de France, which will be seen by 2.6 billion people with our colors blue and white.This is very symbolic," told AFP Mr. Adams, adding that at least one of the eight riders of his stable on two wheels will be Israeli.
The big start of the next Tour de France is scheduled for the last weekend of June in Nice with a final stop on the Champs-Elysées on Sunday 19 July.
"I hope to see an Israeli at the finish line of the Tour de France, it would be a historic event," said Adams, who wants to embody the idea of cultural diversity in an officially Jewish state, but with some 20% Arab, mostly Muslim.
- Tolerance, performance -
"Our team is synonymous with diversity, we have a total of 18 nationalities from five continents in two teams, international and continental," said Adams during the team's presentation at the Tel Aviv velodrome, the only one in the Middle East. -East.
"Now in this continental team, we have just signed a Muslim cyclist, we also have a Druze, this is part of our approach to diversity and tolerance to build bridges through sport," said the arguer of the team, whose father had suffered the Nazi camps before emigrating to Quebec.
For now, Sylvan Adams' Start-up Nation does not have big names in the cycling world, but relies on pride to try to stand out in the world's biggest cycling competition.
"The Tour de France is a childhood dream ... It's a real honor and a privilege for me to be part of this team representing my country of origin", insisted the rider Guy Niv, who had finished in 71st place in the Tour des Alpes in 2018 and participated in the kick-off the same year the Tour of Italy, which was then left, exceptionally, Jerusalem.
This starting point for this 101st edition of the "Giro" was chosen to pay tribute to the late Italian cyclist Gino Bartali who saved Jews from the Holocaust.
By participating in the Tour de France, Guy Niv is well aware of writing a page of the sports history of Israel by becoming normally the "first Israeli" on the roads of the Tour de France.
But the principal does not want to stop at a role of figuration: "It's not enough for us to simply participate, like the Giro, we really want to go ahead and show that we belong (to the elite of cycling) with an exciting first Tour de France ".
© 2019 AFP