Israel Cycling Academy set to acquire Katusha’s WorldTour license, report
Israeli-Canadian Sylvan Adams has been motivated to get his team to the Tour de France
It’s been rumoured for months now and finally confirmed by Het Nieuwsblad early Thursday morning, UCI Pro Continental team Israel Cycling Academy has agreed to purchase the WorldTour license of Katusha-Alpecin. Along with the license, the Israeli team that is co-owned by Israeli-Canadian Sylvan Adams takes on the 11 contracts off Katusha-Alpecin’s books for 2020. The Dutch news outlet says the deal will be announced by both parties in the coming days.
The Katusha-Alpecin team was set to lose it’s sponsorships from Canyon because the German bike company is shifting more of it’s support to multi-disciplinary superstar Mathieu van der Poel’s Corendon-Circus outfit. Alpecin was also rumoured to be pulling its money. Katusha-Alpecin is Swiss-registered team with a strong Russian connection because of petroleum billionaire and team owner Igor Makarov who founded the team 11-years-ago and sits on the UCI Management Committee.
Adams, who helped bring the Giro d’Italia to Israel and bring the Israel Cycling Team up to Pro Continental level, has been very vocal about his desire to get his team to the startline of the Tour de France. A WorldTour license is a guaranteed ticket to the biggest events on the cycling calendar.
One issue that has yet to be resolved, is the number of riders the two outfits have under contract. Israel Cycling Academy is said to have 27 riders under contract or with a preliminary agreement for 2020 while 11 riders from Katusha-Alpecin are signed for next season. WorldTour teams will only be allowed a maximum of 30 contracts in 2020 including three neopros so the outfit would need to slim down the roster. Israel Cycling Academy team boss Kjell Carlström still has work to reconfigure the team’s roster and make deals with some of the riders under existing contracts to make the numbers work.
Israel Cycling Academy currently counts three Canadians on the roster. Guillaume Boivin has been with the team since 2016. Ben Perry joined in 2017 while Alex Cataford joined for the 2018 season. Earlier this year, the team notably announced that it was adding Irishman Dan Martin for 2020.
Katusha-Alpecin counts multiple Monument and Grand Tour stage victories on its list of notable achievements. The team has dropped off notably this year with only five victories and Marcel Kittel’s high-profile step back from pro cycling. Israel Cycling Academy, on the other hand, have 29 wins in 2019 thanks to strong riding from a deep roster that includes Ben Hermans, Krists Neilands and Davide Cimolai.
