The main sponsor of the Israel-Premier Tech (IPT) team of the four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has pulled out of funding the team, despite a pledge to rebrand and distance itself from its Israeli identity. The Canadian company Premier Tech, in a statement issued on Friday, said that it had decided to “step down as co-title sponsor of the team, taking effect immediately”.
“Although we took notice of the team’s decision to change its name for the 2026 season,” the statement said, “the core reason for Premier Tech to sponsor the team has been overshadowed to a point where it has become untenable for us to continue as a sponsor.”
Despite the latest setback, the team are understood to be forging ahead with plans for the 2026 season, after stating in September that a rebrand was “essential to securing the future of the team”.
IPT was plunged into crisis by mass protests against the team’s presence during September’s Vuelta a España, which culminated in the cancellation of the final stage of the three-week race in Madrid.
In the aftermath, further protests against Israel’s war in Gaza were threatened at other races around Europe and at the Grand Départ of next year’s Tour de France, in Barcelona, while rival teams considered boycotting races at which IPT was present. Although Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had praised the team for not “giving in to hate” after the numerous pro-Palestine protests at the Vuelta, IPT subsequently announced that it was “moving away from its Israeli identity”.
The team also withdrew from a series of autumnal one-day races for security reasons, while sponsors, including Premier Tech and Factor Bikes, publicly called for changes to the team’s identity. The squad’s leading performer, the Canadian rider Derek Gee, fourth overall in this year’s Giro d’Italia, also announced that he was cancelling his contract due to what he described as “serious concerns” and added that “certain issues simply made my continuation at the team untenable”.
IPT’s high-profile owner, Sylvan Adams, has described himself as a “self-appointed ambassador to Israel” and is a confidante of Netanyahu. When the rebranding of the team was announced Adams said: “This is a very painful moment in my life. As an Israeli whose heart and blood are blue and white, as an immigrant who made Israel my home, as a patriot and Zionist, I cannot, at this moment, continue to take an active part in a team that no longer bears the name Israel.”
