Il Lombardia 2026

 Il Lombardia 2026

The final post from our northern Italy visit is from what used to be called Giro di Lombardia back in the day. Same race with a varying route each year, usually starting in Bergamo and ending in Como or vice-versa. We've seen versions going both ways, but nothing beats the iconic climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo from Bellagio in our book! So that's where we went, despite the route going twice over one of the less famous climbs. As usual, we set up our "W MAGRO" banner and settled-in to wait for the race, this time having the Museo Ghisallo to occupy some of the time before the live TV race coverage began.

The famous chapel was open as well, this year they were selling souvenirs and taking donations to repair the bell tower, to which we happily contributed. CycleItalia donated funds to the museum project as soon as we heard about it and we've contributed small amounts each time we visit. The museum has had its ups and downs financially over its 20 years but the director assured us things are now in good shape. We hope the chapel restoration project goes as well!

Fiorenzo Magni was the founder. Italy's famous "Third Man" next to Coppi and Bartali had a dream that's been open now for 20 years. This statue is similar to those of the other two near the chapel.

There is always new stuff to admire inside but we won't fill this up with too many photos. Zio had to laugh at this early attempt at "aero" streamlining. How many modern bicycles look like this now? We tried to get some panini at the nearby bar but they were mobbed, so some peanuts and sparkling water had to tide us over until after the race. But it came soon enough.

It turned out to be a nice day for race-watching and after the race went past we went back into the museum where they had the race playing on TV screens inside. By now you know who won and how, but it was exciting all the way with a worthy winner. We returned to our base, Hotel Ariotto that evening for a nice meal of risotto and other Piedmont specialties.

We're thinking of making this trip an every year affair, the weather is nice (not too hot) there are races to watch not too far away and if we're lucky (we were) white truffles can be found to be shaved over your fresh pasta, fried eggs or....

Gran Piemonte 2026

 Gran Piemonte 2026

We wanted to visit Piedmont during the summer, but ETNA had other ideas. We had flights, rental car, lodging, etc. all arranged but the Catania airport kept closing as ETNA erupted. Finally we just said "the heck with it!" and missed seeing our friends. We tried again recently, taking the opportunity to see some local bike races and (maybe) enjoy some white truffles if the season started early enough?

As you can see above we made it to Piedmont and the Gran Piemonte race, held on the Thursday before the big one, the last Monument of the season - Il Lombardia. We've seen both before and enjoyed 'em every time so why not? The race course was different this time, last time we set up our spot on the steeper slopes of the La Morra climb but this route used a much easier way up but here we were, waiting for the race while enjoying our panini.

Only for these folks to show up. At first we thought they were working the race, as in handing-up bottles but it turned out it was a VIP group watching the race. We offered to move our car but they had no problems parking their vans and setting up a picnic for their VIPS.

One guy looked sort of familiar but only after talking with Marcus Burghardt did we realize who he was. We'd been at a few races he was in back-in-the-day. A nice guy who answered some of Zio's questions about what the racers eat these days during the race, but we'll save those for another post. These folks were eating and drinking far better than the racers!

Then this guy showed up, asking about our "W MAGRO" banner. Turns out Franco Peruzzo was another ex-racer, a guy who competed as part of the Italian team time trial squad at the World's in Montreal back in 1976! After talking with us awhile he started sending text messages to "MAGRO" (Eurosport commentator Riccardo Magrini) describing us and the scene on the race route. Heather had the race playing on her phone and soon enough heard "Magro" describing us and the scene on live TV as the helicopter showed us along the route. Only in Italy!

Finally the race came along, passing by twice before the finish. We saw the new World Champ Brandon McNulty working for his teammate (and previous winner) Isaac Del Toro.

This version of Gran Piemonte wasn't hard enough to let a rider like Del Toro shine though he did try anyway, getting caught close to the finish where a sprinter took the win, but we had a great time, the weather was OK and we later dined at an old favorite from the days we ran cycling tours in this region. We got back late but the next day was more relaxed with an easy drive out to the Moto Guzzi museum, something Zio has long wanted to see but really wanted to finally do it since it has been totally renovated and recently reopened. More on that soon.

Pro Cycling Deaths

 Cyclists Get Killed

The recent tragic death of Finlay Tarling made ol' Zio wonder if someone proposed professional bicycle roadracing today, as if it was a new sport, what would happen? 

"OK boys, here's what I am proposing: We dress athletes up in spandex dancing costumes with styrofoam (like in your beer cooler) hats on their heads in-case they crash. We put 'em on super-light, super rigid plastic bicycles with rigid plastic slab-sided wheels. We get 200 of 'em to race in a huge pack over public roads. It will be an awesome spectacle! On public roads you ask? Sure, think of the scenery, the crowds at the roadside, the challenge of going up and down, across flat fields into the wind. It'll be great!"

Would someone then point out that years ago this was done using racing cars and motorcycles, but the danger to participants and spectators proved too great, so they moved racing to closed circuits? Would they ask how do you propose to keep private vehicles off these public roads during the racing?

My guess is that in 2026 nobody would grant approval for such a thing, yet it's widely popular despite the risks. Now and then a spectator gets hit and killed by a vehicle officially on the course, but you don't read much about that. Now and then a competitor gets killed, most often when he or she crashes, either from their own mistake or one made by another competitor.

But now and then a competitor gets killed because the control of the race course failed in some way. In the Tarling case they say a driver thought the race had passed-by, but failed to consider the dropped riders along with the "broom wagon" that usually has a big sign indicating that's the end of the race caravan - so the road can then be re-opened. They say he even asked spectators, but they seemed not to know any more about bike racing than the driver so nobody said "Wait for the broom wagon!" and the driver entered the course, going the wrong way.

This happened to Marco Pantani in 1995. A 4X4 vehicle came out of the woods and onto the course, eventually with a head-on collision that put Pantani and others into the hospital. Amazingly nobody was killed. Cycling resolved to do better with course control though in that case one wonders what could have prevented it?

And what does the head of the pro riders union have to say? Sadly, THIS but don't forget this guy seems only to get wound-up about "safety" when it's the Giro d'Italia and cold/wet weather so Zio won't hold his breath waiting for concrete actions from this clown. There are a few pros retiring after this season, can we hope one of them wants this job?

But we continue to see motorists somehow getting onto the course despite the efforts of the organizers, police, volunteers, etc. And now this.

A lot of hand-wringing and condolences. That'll fix it! At least the author did point-out that the UCI is trying to do something with SAFER and noted the opposition to it from a certain cycling components company.

Are they the only ones who seem to put profits/sales before safety? When so little seems to be getting done trying to make cycling safer Zio has to wonder. Perhaps it's time for a kind-of "put up or shut up" question to see how much the bicycle industry actually cares about the safety of those they employ to promote their products by racing with them?

Perhaps it's time for some boycotts of bicycle industry companies who stand in the way of efforts to make cycling safer? Would that get their attention? Would it result in improvements? Zio thinks it's worth a try!

April 1st again, part infinity

 WTF?

WTF is this? Is it April 1st again?

But the UCI rules-makers are more concerned about padded bras? Don't laugh, here's the story.

They put a stop to this silliness awhile back. Will they do it again?

Someone please explain this to Zio Lorenzo. Please.

Thoughts on LeTour 2026

 Le Tour de France 2026

Zio Lorenzo at LeTour 2024

Le Beeg Shew is over for another year. A few thoughts below:

First, a big F-YOU for this. The author has some nerve to write: Those who succeeded Froome as the sport’s pre-eminent general classification riders, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, have had to face the same questions and doubts that Froome did in his career. Namely, credibility over their performances.

Really? Based on what? The author even admits: Froome tested positive for the prohibited asthma drug salbutamol at the 2017 Vuelta a España – which he won – but he was cleared by the UCI and WADA of any wrongdoing nine months later. There were also accusations of Team Sky exploiting Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for certain medications.

Have you read anything like this about the other guys? Me neither. So why the nasty comparison?

Sure, the yellow jersey race went rather flat once the pasty Dane crashed himself out but Pogacar can only beat the guys who are there, right? Remco Evenepoel proved Zio wrong when he said he should stick to one-day races while Isaac Del Toro raced well for a relative newbie and it was great to see the champ help his young protege. Zio contrasts this podium with the Giro's with the pasty Dane on top with Felix Gall and Jai Hindley on the next steps. So much for the woulda/coulda/shoulda from the Dane's camp.

The battles for the white, green and polka-dot jerseys were compelling in contrast, none of 'em truly wrapped-up until the race was nearly over. It was great to watch 19 year old Paul Seixas try to get on the podium as well as Lenny Martinez get 5th place, good news for the French but also tough to note none of the big-3 cycling countries (France, Italy or Spain) had riders win a single stage. Talk about globalization!

We watched Eurosport's TV coverage with Italy's RAI subbed-in now and then. We skip the English-language commentary, that pie-faced British woman they have is annoying enough when she comes on. She does interviews but rarely asks a question, instead just making a half-baked comment while nodding her head like a fan someone just handed a microphone and camera crew. Can't they do better? There are other women out there that are ex-racers and/or better journalists for sure! 

Vive LeTour!

The "Brogan Adjustment"

 The Brogan Adjustment

And then:

Why pro teams continue to use SRAM escapes Zio Lorenzo. They stop if/when SRAM stops writing the fat checks, but with team budgets these days north of 20 million for an average WT team, how much can it matter, especially when it costs the team a race win? Winning races is what Zio thought it was all about.

Temperature Inflation

 Temperature Inflation?

Everyone is familiar with grade inflation and in the USA, the weather reports that concentrate on some subjective "feels like" temperatures rather than tell you what the actual thermometer readings are.  Few will argue that climate change is a hoax but Zio thinks things are going too far when some call for LeTour to be held in a cooler month.

Seems like the pros train for heat (note silly photo above) but all you read on English-language cycling sites is about how hot it is at the Tour de France. Here and here, for example. Oddly enough, the Italian-language sites Zio looks at don't much mention this. 

The TV images from Carcassonne the other day reminded ol' Zio of following Le Grand Boucle all over France back in the day. Back in the day when hotels in France mostly did not have A/C nor did the vehicles you drove around in. Back then you climbed off your bike at the top of a climb and bought a boisson from a roadside vendor. A drink described as "fraiche" but it came out of a big tub...of water.

Zio had to laugh when one of these sites noted "record" heat - from records that started being kept all the way back in 2007!

What has changed? The pros used to race around dressed in WOOL jerseys and shorts in 40 C heat for Pietro's sake. And don't tell me those guys went slow...TV images the other day showed the 2026 TdF peloton ambling along at 31 kph. Even ol' Zio can ride that speed! Maybe not for 5+ hours but he's a) not a pro b) he is an old-fart.

Notably silent (so far) is the rider's union rep. That guy who seems OK with racing every January in Australia when it's 40 C while screaming bloody murder every May in Italy when it rains or snows. It's not too hot for him?

Stick-thin modern racers have high-tech clothing with ice stuffed inside, hundreds of bottles handed-up, air-conditioned transportation and lodging, popsicles, ice-vests and more. Back-in-the-day it was a cabbage leaf under your cycling cap and whatever you could beg, borrow or steal to drink in-between jumping into a fountain or river.

Zio remembers back in the 1990's when Coca-Cola was a Tour sponsor. Their slogan was "Buvez Tres Froid" as the sign shows. There was a bit of a scandal when the Tour doctor claimed riders were getting sick from drinks TOO COLD! OOOooopps!

Zio wonders if the globalization of cycling has something to do with all of this? Back-in-the-day cyclists mostly came from places it was hot in the summer like France, Italy, Spain, etc. with the occasional Australian or British rider. Brits are notorious complainers about the heat since they have only one or two days of summer each year. Could this be behind all the current whining? Note this quote from one of the articles:

“So far, I’ve coped with it quite well,” Riccitello says. “I think just being from somewhere that is quite hot, I maybe adapt better. I don’t know. There’s only so much you can do.”

Riccitello is from Arizona, USA while we currently live in Sicily. For us it's "desert rat" time - awake at 6 AM, on the bike by 7 AM and back to our tiny island by 9 AM where we can enjoy a granita with brioche! Nobody is paying us to ride after all!

Update: As of July 12 2026, 40 C is too hot to race a full TdF stage. But somehow it wasn't back in January 2026 in Australia. WTF?

Cycling or Motorsport?

 Is this CYCLING or a Motorsport?

Our friends at PEZ Cycling published this the other day.

UCI’s Tunnel Vision: Policing Aerodynamics While Riders Keep Crashing

I like the guys there, having worked with Richard and his crew to promote CycleItalia back in the day. But I have issues with this piece.

First is the defense of the guy who keeps cheating and getting caught. He's become such a pest to the UCI people in-charge of enforcing the rules it looks like they single him out at each race for special scrutiny. He's been DQ'd three times but he doesn't seem to learn a thing from it. 

The "aero" stuff is already out-of-control - one look at the "head fairing" below should explain it. Why is this obvious fairing allowed? Because they call it a safety helmet? What's next, a larger one, maybe supported by struts attached to the rider's back? UCI needs a rule limiting how far from the rider's head (you know, that thing they're trying to protect?) these gizmos can extend. 4-5 centimeters in ANY direction would be a good start.

Or they could just drop all pretense and have a race around France each July using these. How many fans would line the roads to watch a pack of brightly colored suppositories go by? The industry might like the idea - they could really advertise their "Slippery Sam" won the Tour de France. The guy inside pedaling it would be just like a F1 driver...the advertising isn't for him, it's the CAR!

The PEZ article touches on some of this as well when the author takes the UCI to task for failing to do anything about safety, claiming the  "peloton continues to suffer mass crashes at an alarming rate, events that genuinely endanger riders’ lives and careers," In my view that's rather hyperbolic but it's also untrue.

Recently the UCI attempted an experiment in slowing the peloton down with the idea that slower speeds might make racing safer. Their SAFER committee wanted to limit gearing to 54 X 11 to see if this would slow things down and make things safer. But SRAM, who has a 10 cog on the end of their stack, objected. Not only that, they sued! Forget that their own website points-out that 50 X 10 is the same ratio. Instead of telling their sponsored teams to use that, they sued in a Belgian court and so far have prevailed.

I guess they don't care about safety? But they DO care about money. The NYT/The Athletic published an article about this fiasco so Zio Lorenzo won't get into it here. But he WILL ask where does this end? I don't think too many MLB fans lobby about the sales opportunities for the companies that make the bats, nor do NBA fans care a lot about the balls. But why do so many cycling fans seem to support the bicycle industry? 

This same industry cares only about sales and profits, sport is just a vehicle. They fight against any equipment regulations on their "innovations" since those innovations are really designed to make whatever you are riding now seem obsolete and in immediate need of replacement with their newest-latest. Think of the 32" MTB wheel craze going on now. They're saying exactly the same things they said when you "needed" 29" wheels instead of those antique 26" hoops. 

Please don't let cycling turn into just another industry-controlled sport...like motorsports.

Giro d'Italia 2026

 Thoughts on Giro d'Italia 2026

La Corsa Rosa 2026 was entertaining despite the domination of one rider. While you can only beat the guys who show up to race, the competition was rather thin, made worse by some riders plans being ruined through crashes or illness. Zio Lorenzo notes the winner's big rival won this race a couple of years ago (against stiffer opposition) by almost ten minutes, winning 6 stages and wearing the Maglia Rosa almost from start to finish.

But at least this guy seemed far less robotic than in the past, right? Lots of commenters thought so. Could he be maturing or just the thought of joining the 7 others who have won all three Grand Tours made him reveal some genuine emotions? I guess we'll see at the big race in July when he faces some REAL opposition.

We had a great time at the one stage we saw live along with the others we watched on TV from various locations during the three weeks. A few things stood out: Where did Afonso Eulalio come from? His teammate Damiano Caruso warned that he might be a factor but who could have predicted he'd get the leaders jersey at all, let alone hang onto it for as long as he did OR win the best young rider category? It was great to see old-guy Caruso sheparding him through the Sicilian's final Giro before he takes over DS duties for the team next season. There should be a best old rider category too. Why not?

While some of the racing was formulaic, some real tactics and passion were seen in the victories of Alberto Bettiol, Alec Segaert, Davide Ballerini, Igor Arrieta and Paul Magnier and in the pursuit of the best climber's jersey by Giulio Ciccone. Sadly the other Giulio, as in Pellizzari got sick, but he made no excuses and helped his teammate and former winner Jai HIndley to 3rd place.

The UAE team was almost destroyed before they ever got to Italy but the guys left didn't give up, Jhonatan Narvaez won three stages and briefly wore the Maglia Ciclamino and LIDL/Trek's Jonathan, as in Milan finally won a stage, not in Milan but the last one, in Rome. Never give up, right?

Some things are better left unmentioned like the money-grab start in Bulgaria, the farce of that Milan stage and that RCS owner parading around like Napoleon, but one thing sticks in Zio's mind and has him scratching his bald head - when did guys like Victor Campenaerts and Bart Lemmon become mountain goats in the Visma train?

Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli? Yes, Zio can understand that- those guys are climbers employed to shepherd their leader uphill at speeds competitors struggle to match, then peel off to just beat the time limit at the stage finish. And even though both of those guys did much more, Kuss winning a stage and Piganzoli almost grabbing the Maglia Bianca, WTF were these other guys doing up there?

The last time Zio remembers something this odd was back when Frankie Andreu was doing something similar for BigTex and his own wife asked "What the hell are YOU doing up there? You're no climber!" We now know how that happened and watching Visma riders don baseball hats with RABOBANK on them conjures up some bad thoughts...thoughts Zio hopes are just that and not a return to the bad old daze.

Is Zio Lorenzo the only won wondering about this?

W Il Giro!

Best plans Part 3

 Finally, our plan WORKS!

We were 0-5 for the GIOS Raduno and kind-of only 3-5 for our Eroica adventure. Could things finally go the right way with the weather? We drove back to Monferrato on a Friday to find out. It was wet all the way north but sunny when we arrived. 

And sunny the next day, one of those post-storm days when the sky is amazingly clear and snow-capped Alps visible in the distance. There's a "Big Bench" near our hotel.

With some great views!

As you can see.

The Giro d'Italia would pass here in a few days and Fubine was ready! After a few glorious days of riding in warm (but not hot) sunshine we were ready to get back in the car and go see it ourselves,

We found a spot just after the GPM on Bric Berton on the stage to Novi Ligure. We didn't want to mess with the crowds there, instead enjoying smaller (or no) crowds on a climb. Above you can see the Giro-E riders going by in advance of the race. Most of the new e-bikes lack some aesthetic appeal in our view - the huge downtubes needed to house the now-massive batteries make the bikes look like two-wheeled bricks! But maybe new battery tech will make 'em small enough, like the 250 w/h batteries in ours to let the makers design better looking frames in the future.

We had this space all to ourselves after buying some lunch supplies from the market. The owners came out once the race came close and even treated us to a coffee post-race!

The peloton was broken-up by the climbing, maybe 30 minutes from the first rider to the last? We took our time leaving but still were stopped down the road as they waited for the race entourage to get through. Oddly enough, the publicity caravan and souvenir sellers just blasted past us at high speed...until Heather suggested I hold out some money while waving them down. THAT did the trick!

Post-race the TV helicopters were parked at Hotel Ariotto, right in front of our terrace! We joked that Valerio should start offering heli-transfers from the Milan airports.

The third and last portion of our spring "vacation" was a 5 out of 5 in every way. Great food, great weather, great cycling, great race-watching...FINALLY the best laid plans came good! We'll be back in August for more fun.

UCI - save us!

 Dear UCI - save us from this, PLEASE!

What is this? A shark?

 

What is this? A spermatozoa?

What is this? A two-wheeled cockroach?

Do any of these things look useful for anything other than racing against the clock or the wind? Of course not, but Zio assumes they're great for what they're designed for..which is certainly NOT aesthetic beauty.

And of course they're pretty useless for anyone not paid to race on one while wearing the other. A person not familiar with bicycle racing would be forgiven for asking "why a shark appears to be riding something that looks like a cockroach turned on its side with two wheels attached? I thought this was a bicycle race."

Zio was reminded of this while watching the World Cycling Championship in Rwanda, the first time they've been held in Africa. It seems a lot of the big stars from the rich cycling countries didn't bother to show-up, leaving room for lots of cyclists one would only (maybe) see at the Olympic Games every four years. Cyclists from relatively poor countries who can't afford to provide their athletes with this kind of expensive (and ugly) overly specialized equipment.

Plenty of racers competed on more-or-less standard roadracing bicycles wearing more-or-less standard crash helmets. How refreshing! And how affordable!

It's past time for the UCI to step-in and ban these crazy helmets and almost useless bicycles. All riders should compete on a standard road bicycle. No full disc wheels, no crazy handlebars to let the rider be splayed out and barely in control of the thing while wearing a "helmet" that is more for streamlining than head protection. Perhaps a simple limit of 10 centimeters in any direction from the rider's head would be enough to rid us of these gawdawful helmets while it should be easy to specify standard roadracing machines for racing against the clock.

PLEASE UCI - Save us (and the competitors) from this!!

Pro Cycling's REAL Problem

Pro Cycling's REAL Broken Business Model

Events like the disruption of La Vuelta 2025 by political protests against a team with ISRAEL on its jersey warrants a look at what Zio Lorenzo would call “Pro Cycling’s REAL Broken Business Model”.

Plenty has been written about the financial structure of pro cycling and how various business models (most of which seem based on somehow getting a piece of the vast fortune the Tour de France organizers supposedly make each year) should be implemented. But the REAL broken business model isn’t financial, it’s ethical. Not commerce vs sport but morality vs sport, two things that should be synonymous but fans are making it clear they are not and they’re not happy about it.

Pro cycling began as an individual sport but soon bicycle makers got involved, seeing the value of their brand-name on the wool jerseys of riders in the famous race. They bought advertising touting how Rider X won the race using their bicycle. Soon, teams were organized and paid by these bike makers to help one man win the race, sacrificing their own chances in the process.

Then Tour de France founder, Henri Desgrange decided in 1930 these industry teams had too much influence. His solution? Change to national teams, hoping to break up industry alliances adversely affecting his race. How to fund the race (and maybe make money?) became an issue, but Desgrange’ solution was a publicity caravan. This way industry of pretty much any type could pay to drive around the race course ahead of the riders, promoting their goods, handing out samples of their products, etc.

This worked OK but in the early 1960’s trade teams (with some national identity, which we’ll discuss further) were allowed to come back. Meanwhile, the lucrative publicity caravan continued. Trade teams again were mostly bicycle industry based, the first non-cycling sponsored team was an Italian one bankrolled by Nivea skin cream starting back in 1954.

Once the value of consumer product advertising became obvious (certainly helped by more and more television coverage of races) all kinds of companies sponsored teams from espresso machine makers, cold-cut producers and supermarkets along with alcoholic beverages one assumes fans would enjoy while watching the races. Even tobacco companies were involved until legislation ruled them out, despite some creative work-arounds by their makers like putting the same brand name on chocolates for example - BOULE D-OR could be eaten but they really wanted you to smoke them!

Pro cycling went along well enough with various companies coming and going, often with a new one just taking the place of a previous one, with no more changes than uniforms and maybe the color/branding of the bicycles. Budgets for pro teams weren’t insane, star riders were paid a pretty decent salary while all of them could add to their income from appearance fees and prizes earned at other races, plenty of which were post-Tour criteriums. Small business owners could afford to have their company name on a jersey, even if it was team that raced only nationally with hopes of an invite to their country’s 3-week Grand Tour

The mid-1980’s saw multi-national Coca-Cola sign up to be the official drink of LeTour, replacing Perrier. This was the same period in which American Greg LeMond started making his mark and other multinationals soon joined the party

Then in 2005 something big happened. A “Pro Tour” idea was cooked up, one that tried to globalize the sport. When cycling went global it meant two important races might be going on at the same time in different places, so now you needed two teams, one for each race with a staff to look after them and their bicycles. Costs of fielding a team competitive on the Pro Tour stage skyrocketed, some compared the budget needed to the GDP of a small country!

Just a few years later there WAS a small country bankrolling a team - Kazakhstan, a team named after their capital city Astana. They were instantly invited to join the Pro Tour. Some questions were asked about the ethics of such an authoritarian regime “sportwashing” in this way, but this was the UCI’s (international cycling union) go-go, “show us the money” phase. These were the same folks who said a certain Texan champ “would never, never, ever dope” to keep their gravy train rolling. The same Texan signed up with the team for the 2009 season, part of his "comeback tour".

Of course there had been national cycling teams in this era like Cafe Colombia, but they were more about promoting coffee than authoritarian regimes. The sportwashing trend continued with Bahrain in 2017 (“financed by the government of Bahrain to promote the country worldwide” according to Wikipedia) with UAE coming a year later. In both cases more questions were asked about sportwashing  but “show me the money” prevailed. More recently an Australian team added a secondary sponsor- ALULA in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps more subtle but otherwise the same idea?

Meanwhile, Israel Cycling Academy was born in 2014, the claim being it was to provide opportunity/development for Israeli cyclists. By 2018 they were invited to Milano-Sanremo and the Giro d’Italia, maybe having something to do with Israel paying big money to get the Giro d’Italia start, the first time outside Europe? Real estate tycoon Sylvan Adams was a big backer of the team as well as a provider of the funding needed to secure that “Big Start”. 

This team next bought their way into the World Tour with the purchase of Katusha-Alpecin, mostly tossing the elements of that team (but keeping their World Tour license) and rebranding the team as Israel Start-Up Nation. In 2021 Adam’s fortune let them buy fading pro Chris Froome.

In 2022 the team was rebranded as Israel-Premier Tech with more Canadian riders added since sponsor Premier Tech was a Canadian company but poor results caused the team to be relegated to the second-tier for 2023. In recent years the team has shown-up at the biggest races without a single Israeli rider, so what is this team’s purpose again if it’s not sportwashing? The governing regime in Israel seemed only too proud to have these representatives, but at the same time claimed to have not contributed to funding for the team.

Seems like Premier Tech is the real sponsor but takes second position to a country that contributes nothing? Zio's guess is Sylvan Adams the main backer and he's the one who wants ISRAEL on the jersey, even saying the team would NEVER compete otherwise..before the name was removed halfway through the Vuelta. More grumbling about sportwashing was said and written, especially as  things heated up (again) in the Middle East.

In early 2024 pro-Palestinian protests against the team’s presence at cycling events began in Australia. As the genocide in Gaza became obvious to the entire world, these protests continued and expanded. Meanwhile, team owner “Sylvan Adams described the Gaza war as a contest between "good vs. evil and civilization against barbarism.” according to Wikipedia.

Fast forward to La Vuelta 2025 where the race was interrupted and finally stopped entirely on the final stage in Madrid due to various protesters, including some climate activists and what seemed like the usual “black block” hooligans who show up any time there’s a chance of tear gas, truncheons and fire hoses.

“Sportwashing” by these entities can’t be legislated away like tobacco or alcohol. Pro cycling tried to keep gambling interests out (remember Unibet?) but the Visma team sported “BetCity” logos from January 2023 to January 2025 and of course there’s FDJ’s national lottery as well as Lotto, so it seems the “show me the money!” idea is still in play.

Is there any entity pro cycling will NOT take money from? In 1990 the TVM team traveled to races in a bus supplied by “Sauna Diana” basically a brothel, so where’s the limit? How about porn sites? The brothel seemed OK while MOTOGP already has “Only Fans” painted on motorcycles so what if the sponsor wanted a pro cycling team? Would a pro cycling team bankrolled by neo-Nazis be OK? How about one sponsored by Hamas or Hezbollah? Does pro cycling even care?

Since sportwashing can’t be legislated away (though the International Olympic Committee can exclude countries, as it has done with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine…but so far turned a blind eye towards Israel)  it’s up to the fans (who are demonstrating as we’ve seen in Spain) but what about the riders? Do they have zero interest in where the money in their pay packet comes from? No issues with the name of an authoritarian regime with a dismal human rights record on their chest? During the Spanish protests one rider described himself and others as “pawns in the game”. But that doesn’t happen unless you are a willing pawn as those authoritarian regimes are not forcing you to don their jersey at gunpoint, you are taking the money to represent the sponsor as well as pedal a bicycle. Shouldn’t you care what that sponsor actually does or sells or promotes?

Pro cycling and its fans deserve better. Little doubt there would be less money in the sport if sportwashing was discouraged but what is integrity, humanity and justice worth?