Domenico Pozzovivo confirms signing with Israel - Premier Tech, hopes to "be at the start of Tirreno-Adriatico"

The wait is over! Domenico Pozzovivo will be back in the peloton, the veteran has confirmed himself. The transfer to Israel - Premier Tech has been agreed on and is likely to be official in the next couple of days.

“The team is finalizing the bureaucratic process with the UCI, after which my contract will be announced,” Pozzovivo revealed to TuttoBiciWeb. "They are trying to speed up the process a bit so that I can be at the start of Tirreno-Adriatico that starts on Monday."

The 40-year old has already been in such a situation in 2022, after Qhubeka was disbanded last minute. His high age meant it would be difficult to have a team invest in him, but eventually that came forward with Intermarché - Circus - Wanty. He's finished third at the Giro dell'Emilia only behind Enric Mas and Tadej Pogacar late in the year, adding to Top10 results at the Tour de Suisse and Giro d'Italia - the latter in which he contributed to Biniam Girmay's very popular stage win.

He only found the contract halfway through February. The Belgian team had to let go of several of it's leaders due to budget difficulties, and the Italian was back on the market, but with no-one taking the risk. Now the wait is over, already in March Pozzovivo has signed with the Israeli team and he hopes to be competing already in a matter of days.

"It won't be very easy, because I've never ridden on the team's material. But I want to get back into the peloton so badly that I am ready for anything," he concluded. Pozzovivo hopes to start Tirreno-Adriatico already on the 6th of March.