Israel - Premier Tech at risk of losing bikes: "Without a name change, without a flag change, we won't continue"

The Factor name has been featured on the Israeli team's frames since 2020, but that could change at any moment. The British brand can no longer ignore the controversy surrounding the team, founder Rob Gitelis told Cyclingnews. “I've already told the team: Without a name change, without a flag change, we won't continue.”

“It's not a matter of right or wrong anymore,” says the owner of the Taiwan-based brand. "It's become too controversial around our brand, and my responsibility is to my employees and my shareholders, to give them maximum space with which to grow this company and make it profitable. Adding additional level of conflict or complexity, we just can't accept that any more.”

Gitelis does not comment further on the protests and emphasizes that this is not a personal choice, but a business decision. "It's no longer a personal thing of I support this or I support that. There's just a certain level of controversy we just can't have surrounding the brand. I think everyone understands that coming off the Vuelta, it's become a lot more urgent and serious."

However, he does state that Factor has been struggling with supporting Israel - Premier Tech for some time. "This isn't something that started a week ago, 10 days ago, a month ago. This has been going on now since nearly two years. We've found it difficult for the past two years to really use and activate the team to the level that we would like to. We've been politically sensitive, as it's a difficult time."

For example, there is no mention of the team on the bicycle brand's website. Factor hoped for change, but sees that Sylvan Adams, owner of Israel - Premier Tech, is continuing on the same course. That makes supporting the team difficult. “When Stevie Williams won a Classic [Flèche Wallonne] last year, we celebrated Stevie Williams, we didn't celebrate Israel-Premier Tech. We were not able to activate it to the level that we would like to,” Gitelis gives as an example.

The CEO states that changing the name and flag are “minimum requirements.” It was previously announced that Factor would be partnering with the team for an indefinite period, but that is no longer the case. “We did have a verbal commitment to continue, but things have escalated since then that we can no longer continue to meet that verbal commitment.”

If Israel-Premier Tech wants to earn that contract, a lot will have to change: not just the flag and name. "We're talking about a full rebranding of the team, if it's going to take place. That's a very significant undertaking, as well as moving rider contracts to another country."