OFFICIAL: WorldTour return for Premier Tech as former Israel team sponsor links up with Mathieu van der Poel & Jasper Philipsen

Premier Tech’s comeback to the sport’s top tier is now official. Less than a month after its dramatic split from the former Israel – Premier Tech organisation, the Canadian company has been unveiled as the new co-title sponsor of Mathieu van der Poel’s squad for 2026 — completing a rapid and striking re-entry into the WorldTour.

Announced in Antwerp on Friday, the team (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will race next season as Alpecin-Premier Tech, with the women’s programme adopting the parallel name Fenix-Premier Tech. The deal runs for three years, with Alpecin extending its own commitment into 2028.

Premier Tech stepped away from the formerly Israel-based project in November, framing its withdrawal as “untenable” after months of protests, political scrutiny and reputational pressure surrounding the team’s presence at races during the 2025 season.

The company emphasised that its long-standing aim in cycling remained unchanged — to support Canadian and Québec riders — and its swift re-entry into the peloton has now taken shape around that principle.

Since leaving their former team, Premier Tech have already partnered with St Michel – Preference Home – Auber93, joining the French Continental outfit as a major backer without taking naming rights. That alignment reflected the team’s strong Canadian contingent, with Alison Jackson, Simone Boilard and Clara Emond all joining their women’s roster.

The new deal with Alpecin represents the other half of the company’s repositioning: a return to the WorldTour in a stable, high-performance environment, far removed from the geopolitical turbulence attached to its former team.

Alpecin have served as the team’s main sponsor since 2020, and Deceuninck joined them two years later when the programme stepped up to the WorldTour.

For the 2026 season, Deceuninck will relinquish their co-title role, Alpecin will continue as the lead partner, and Premier Tech will take the prominent position alongside them. Deceuninck remain part of the project in a reduced commercial capacity, while both the men’s and women’s WorldTour teams will carry the new Premier Tech branding.

The partnership provides long-term stability for a structure built around Van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen, with Kaden Groves and rising talent Tibor Del Grosso also set to play central roles next season.

As part of the wider update, the Roodhooft brothers confirmed the signing of Tour de France stage winner Hugo Houle for 2026. His arrival adds another Canadian presence to the team — a detail that aligns neatly with Premier Tech’s priorities — while three further names have been promoted from the squad’s development programme to strengthen depth.

Until this week, just 19 riders were confirmed for next year, making today’s announcements an important step in completing the roster.

Premier Tech’s return to the WorldTour marks one of the most striking sponsor transformations in recent memory. Within a few weeks, the company went from abruptly ending a politically fraught sponsorship, to attracting interest from multiple top-tier teams, to committing itself both to a French development-focused structure and to one of the most successful WorldTour squads of the modern era.

The company has now executed a clean and strategic reboot, moving from an unstable and controversial environment to a two-team partnership framework built around performance, visibility and long-term stability.