Sylvan Adams and Israel Premier Tech: The Canadian-Israeli Billionaire Who Put Israel on the World Cycling Map
The Canadian-Israeli billionaire behind Israel Premier Tech, cycling's only Israeli-owned UCI WorldTour team. The 2018 Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza, Chris Froome's signing, the Vuelta 2024 protest campaign, and sport as public diplomacy.
Israel Premier Tech is the only Israeli-owned team in the UCI WorldTour — the top competitive tier of professional road cycling. Founded in 2015 by Canadian-Israeli billionaire Sylvan Adams as the Israel Cycling Academy, promoted to the WorldTour in 2020, and renamed after title-sponsor deals with the Quebec-based industrial group Premier Tech. The team races the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España every year — and has become the single most contested sporting brand of the post–October 7 era.
Who owns Israel Premier Tech
- Sylvan Adams. Founder and principal backer. Canadian-Israeli. Made aliyah in 2015 and runs the operation out of Tel Aviv.
- Wealth base: Iberville Developments — the Quebec real-estate portfolio founded by his father, Romanian-Jewish Holocaust survivor Marcel Adams.
- Premier Tech. Quebec-based industrial group. Title sponsor since 2022. The name is a co-branding deal — ownership is Adams.
- Positioning. Adams calls himself a "self-appointed ambassador at large" for Israel. The team is the vehicle.
What UCI WorldTour status actually means
- Eighteen teams hold WorldTour licenses. Israel Premier Tech is one of them.
- Automatic entry to all three Grand Tours: Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España.
- Automatic entry to every Monument classic — Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Il Lombardia.
- Minimum-salary floors, anti-doping compliance, and financial reporting requirements set by the UCI.
- Promotion and relegation operate on a three-year points cycle.
The roster — the marquee names
- Chris Froome. Four-time Tour de France winner. Signed 2021 on a reported multi-year deal — one of the largest contracts in cycling history at the time.
- Derek Gee. Canadian breakout — multiple Grand Tour stage podiums and a top-ten Tour de France GC finish.
- Michael Woods. Canadian climber. Tour de France and Vuelta stage wins in team colors.
- Pascal Ackermann. German sprinter. Multiple Giro stage wins.
- Simon Clarke. Australian classics rider. 2022 Paris-Roubaix stage winner at the Tour de France.
- Domestic Israeli riders. Omer Goldstein, Guy Niv, Itamar Einhorn — the pipeline the Adams Institute for Cycling was built to feed.
Grand Tour results — the credibility marker
- Multiple Tour de France stage wins across the Adams era.
- Multiple Giro d'Italia stage wins.
- Vuelta a España stage wins and GC top-tens.
- Top-ten finishes at Monument classics.
- In professional cycling, stage wins are the currency. Israel Premier Tech has them across all three Grand Tours.
The 2018 Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza
- The first Grand Tour start outside Europe in the 101-year history of the Giro d'Italia. Adams was the principal driver and financier.
- Three stages inside Israel: Jerusalem individual time trial, Haifa-to-Tel Aviv, Beersheba-to-Eilat.
- Estimated total hosting cost: $12–20 million. Jointly funded by Adams personally and the Israeli government.
- Set the template for the modern Grande Partenza auction — later editions have started in Hungary, Albania, and the UK.
The boycott campaign
Israel Premier Tech is the highest-profile Israeli-branded sporting entity currently competing on the world stage. The post–October 7 period has produced sustained protest activity at Grand Tour stages.
- Vuelta a España 2024. Repeated protest disruptions. Multiple stages shortened or neutralized following protest activity. Team riders faced hostile crowd interactions across the three weeks.
- National federations and organizers. Ongoing pressure to drop the "Israel" name from the team. Adams has publicly refused every request.
- The team continues to race under the Israel Premier Tech name across every UCI WorldTour event on the calendar.
The Adams sports-and-culture footprint
- Sylvan Adams Velodrome. Part of the Tel Aviv Sports Institute. Israel's first Olympic-standard track cycling venue. Personally financed.
- Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv. Adams personally funded a significant share of the operational cost.
- Madonna at Eurovision 2019. Adams reportedly underwrote the multi-million-dollar appearance fee.
- The Adams Institute for Cycling. Youth development programme feeding domestic Israeli riders into the WorldTour team.
The takeaway
Israel Premier Tech is not a legacy franchise or a labor-movement institution. It is a single-owner geopolitical project — a professional cycling team operated as public diplomacy, funded personally, and defended publicly. The Grande Partenza was the opening statement. The Vuelta 2024 protests were the stress test. Adams has never signalled a step back — and every marquee signing, every stage win, and every hostile crowd is now part of the same argument.
FAQ
Who is Sylvan Adams?
Canadian-Israeli billionaire, founder and principal backer of Israel Premier Tech. Wealth base is Iberville Developments, the Quebec real-estate portfolio built by his father, Romanian-Jewish Holocaust survivor Marcel Adams. Made aliyah in 2015; describes himself as a self-appointed ambassador-at-large for Israel.
What is Israel Premier Tech?
The only Israeli-owned team in the UCI WorldTour, cycling's top professional tier. Founded 2015 as Israel Cycling Academy, promoted to the WorldTour in 2020. Races the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España every year.
Who are the marquee riders?
Chris Froome (four-time Tour de France winner, signed 2021), Derek Gee, Michael Woods, Pascal Ackermann, Simon Clarke, and the domestic Israeli riders — Omer Goldstein, Guy Niv, Itamar Einhorn — developed through the Adams Institute for Cycling.
What was the 2018 Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza?
The first Grand Tour start outside Europe in the Giro's 101-year history. Three stages inside Israel — Jerusalem individual time trial, Haifa-to-Tel Aviv, Beersheba-to-Eilat. Adams was the principal driver and co-financier; total cost estimated at $12–20 million.
What has Adams financed beyond cycling?
The Sylvan Adams Velodrome in Tel Aviv, Israel's first Olympic-standard track cycling venue. A significant share of the operational cost of Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv, reportedly including Madonna's appearance fee. The Adams Institute for Cycling youth development program.
בעברית
סילבן אדמס — מיליארדר קנדי־ישראלי, ממייסדי אלוני חץ הקנדי (Iberville Developments) שהוקמה על ידי אביו מרסל אדמס, ניצול שואה יליד רומניה. עלה ארצה ב־2015. הקים ב־2015 את קבוצת האופניים ישראל סייקלינג אקדמי — היום Israel Premier Tech — הקבוצה הישראלית היחידה ב־UCI WorldTour, הליגה העליונה של אופני הכביש המקצועיים. הקבוצה משתתפת ב־Tour de France, Giro d'Italia ו־Vuelta a España מדי שנה. בין רוכביה כריס פרום (זוכה ה־Tour de France ארבע פעמים), דרק גי, מייקל וודס, פסקל אקרמן, סיימון קלארק, וישראלים כמו עומר גולדשטיין, גיא ניב ואיתמר איינהורן. אדמס גם מימן את פתיחת ה־Giro d'Italia בישראל ב־2018 (הפעם הראשונה שסבב גדול נפתח מחוץ לאירופה), את הוולודרום ע"ש סילבן אדמס בתל אביב, וחלק ניכר מהאירוויזיון 2019 בתל אביב — כולל, לפי הדיווחים, את הופעתה של מדונה. בעידן שאחרי 7 באוקטובר, ה־Vuelta 2024 הפכה למבחן ציבורי — מחאות חוזרות ונשנות בשלבים, לחצים לשינוי שם הקבוצה. אדמס סירב לכל בקשה. הקבוצה ממשיכה להתמודד תחת השם Israel Premier Tech.
