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The Israel Premier—-Tech professional cycling team concluded the 2024 Tour de France yesterday evening in Nice, France, with a consensus that this was their highest-quality performance in five participations in the prestigious race.

The team demonstrated high quality in nearly every stage, achieving 13 top-ten finishes, four podiums (third place), and for the first time in the team’s history, a rider in the top ten of the general classification.

Canadian rider Derek Gee competed almost shoulder to shoulder with the best cyclists in the world in the most challenging climbing stages of the Tour. Yesterday, in the time trial from Monaco to Nice, he defended his ninth place in the general classification with an outstanding performance, finishing sixth and proving that the Israeli team is becoming a force to be reckoned with on the global sporting stage.

Among the team’s leadership, riders, and professional staff, there was a feeling of pride and satisfaction with the outstanding performance, despite the slight disappointment of not achieving the much-anticipated victory. Dror Pekatch, the first Israeli sports director ever in the Tour de France, stated, “In terms of the quality we presented here, there is no doubt that this is our best Tour ever and probably the best Grand Tour we’ve ever had. We proved here that in terms of level and ability, we are a World Tour team. It’s bittersweet when we were so close, but I’m very proud of what we achieved here.”

German rider Pascal Ackermann, who finished on the podium three times and achieved seven top-ten results, said, “Of course, I wanted a victory and was close several times. But I’m proud of what the team and I did here—we had a very high-quality race. For me personally, it only increased my desire to return to the Tour next year and achieve the victory that eluded me this time.”

Sylvan Adams, Israel – Premier Tech team owner: “I’m proud of the team’s performance at this year’s Tour. The boys rode for each other at the front of the peloton. We had 13 top-10 finishes, meaning we were in the hunt in about half of the stages. With four podiums and Derek Gee finishing in the top 10 on GC, I would say that this was our best Tour ever, even if we didn’t manage to win a stage, as we had won three in the last two Tours.”

Adams emphasized that a significant victory was achieved on another important front, given the events of October 7 and Israel’s global standing thereafter.  “In my view, the most important thing is that we showcased the name Israel to 15 million spectators along the route and over 2 billion TV viewers. We were threatened with protests and disruptions, but there were no protests and very few Palestinian flags. In fact, we saw many more Israeli flags. When I rode daily with the team’s jersey along the course, I heard many cheers of support, showing that we have many friends in the cycling world and beyond. The haters are not sports fans. I was moved to tears when we hosted two heroes from Be’eri, Avida Bachar and Sharon Shabo, at this Tour. They symbolize Israel’s resilience, refusal to give up, and the incredible ability to overcome the worst. They provided us, the riders, and everyone with tremendous inspiration during this Tour.”