Israel - Premier Tech create special training jersey as riders and staff fear for safety amidst Israel-Hamas war

Israel - Premier Tech CEO has recently talked to RadioCycling and denied the team would require any changes regarding team safety following the ongoing war taking place in the Gaza Strip. However this has quickly changed, the team has in the meantime created a training jersey without the Israeli names.

This comes after the developing situation in the Middle East. Despite being ongoing for decades, in October Hamas has launched an attack into Israel from the Gaza Strip, and ever since the Israelian authorities have launched an ongoing series of airstrikes and ground invasion into the strip. It is estimated that at least 13.000 people, almost half of them being children, have died as a result.

The international community widely condemns this retaliation and protests take place ever since, heavily criticizing Israel's actions. Sylvan Adams has recently been asked regarding the topic and was passionately behind the actions of the state, which has linked the team further to this subject. Whilst he denied the team would need to do any change in terms of it's security, that is not the case as team sources confirmed themselves that the team is now working on a jersey without a logo.

“2024 is our tenth season in the professional peloton and we continue to proudly race as Israel-Premier Tech. The safety and security of our team members is of the utmost importance to us. That is why we have taken a number of measures. This includes the use of a training outfit," Wielerflits reports, quoting a source from within the team. "Our riders can put these on when they are outside the racing bubble or are only completing training, if they feel compelled to do so.”

This comes as riders fear for their safety in the current onlook of the war - which has since seen a ceasefire, which is widely hoped to last. Both riders, but mostly staff who have their vehicles parked in their driveways, have presented concerns about their safety and asked for the change.