Tour de France: "I have fun promoting my country" (Sylvan Adams from Israel Start-Up Nation)

Sylvan Adams, the co-founder of the Israel Start-Up Nation team, on September 17, 2020 during the Tour de France.

RFI / Thomas-Sean from Saint-Léger

Text by: Thomas-Sean de Saint Leger Follow

5 mins

Five years after its creation, the Israel Start-Up Nation team, which will soon welcome Chris Froome to its ranks, is taking its first steps on the Tour de France this year.

At the origin of the project, with his partner Ron Baron, the Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams accompanies his runners on French roads.

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RFI:

Sylvan Adams

That's great.

I walk past the crowds on the side of the roads and hear people shouting: “

".

It is a personal pride, because I created this team, and a pride to show the name of our nation in France.

Israel is a country that is talked about a lot, and badly, in general, in the media.

It's not fair and together with the team, we want to end these prejudices.

Today, you are a businessman, boss of a cycling team, and a bit of an ambassador too?

Yeah, you know, I got a business card made that says “self-proclaimed ambassador”.

I have fun promoting my country through different projects.

The team is a very good vehicle to show the good side of Israel.

I moved from Canada, where I had a very good life, to settle there.

Any visitor can see that our country is open, diverse, tolerant, secure.

Israel has the only democratic regime in the region.

I have an example for you: in December, we organize our training camps on site and Rudy Barbier [a French runner in the workforce editor's note] told me: "

”.

Since your team has been present on the Tour, we have occasionally seen, on the side of the roads, some pro-Palestinian banners or demonstrations, hostile to Israel.

Does that bother you?

I don't call them demonstrations, I call them three people with a flag, and I think they're the same every step of the way.

They have the right to promote their ideas.

But if we compare that with the reaction of the vast majority of French people, I think we are very well received here.

Today, in professional cycling, several teams, including yours, bear the name of a country, and not of a brand ...

There are 3: Bahrain-McLaren, UAE [United Arab Emirates] and us.

As luck would have it, these three countries have made peace in recent days.

It's very symbolic, it shows that countries which open up to others, in sport and in other fields, show that they are for a more harmonious world.

In the future, could you welcome a runner from the United Arab Emirates, or Bahrain, for example, in your team?

Of course.

It would be something very good for the sport, and for our mission.

We have a very cosmopolitan workforce.

Having an Arab or Muslim runner would be nice.

Besides, I know the owner of the Bahrain-McLaren team well, Sheikh Nasser.

He had an idea to have riders from his country in the team, so for now he's a little jealous of me, because he doesn't have any and we have 4.

You took to the Tour de France this year an Israeli rider, Guy Niv, the first from your country to start the Grande Boucle.

Is it a sporting choice or only symbolic?

You have to understand that we are also trying to develop cycling sport in Israel.

I built a velodrome in Tel Aviv and we have a continental team [the third world division] which is sort of our training center.

Bringing an Israeli rider to the Tour de France is a first achievement, it shows the young people of our country that they can reach the highest level of sport.

In the meantime, you have recruited, for next year, a very big name in the peloton: Christopher Froome, winner of the Tour de France 4 times in the 2010s, but much more behind since a serious fall in June 2018. In more, the Briton is aging.

Are you sure you want to, or is it a marketing stunt?

Not at all.

Froome has won the Tour de France four times, he is the best “

”

rider

of the current generation.

It is true that he is still recovering from a very serious fall, it takes time, but he has the heart of a champion, and I have great confidence in him.

He will come back in force next year.

We built next year's team to surround him and allow him to win the Tour de France.

►Also read: Cohabitation and last Tour de France with Ineos for Christopher Froome

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• France

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