![\"Alessandro](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1490614510.jpg\")
Alessandro De Marchi (pictured) rode for Israel\u2013Premier Tech between 2021 and 2022. Tim de Waele \/ Getty Images<\/p>\nIn his final season as a professional cyclist, Alessandro De Marchi has said he is \u201chappy and relieved\u201d not to be cycling for Israel-Premier Tech, having spent two years riding for the Israeli team between 2021 and 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Observer, De Marchi, who moved to Jayco\u2013AlUla in 2023, said he would no longer feel comfortable riding for Israel-Premier Tech due to Israel’s continued war on Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have really struggled to be there now and been in great difficulty,\u201d he said. The 39-year-old said that he won\u2019t criticise anyone who rides for the team, but he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be able to manage the feelings I have, to be able to be involved in something like that\u201d.<\/p>\n
Alessandro De Marchi (pictured) rode for Israel\u2013Premier Tech between 2021 and 2022. Tim de Waele \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Israel-Premier Tech aren\u2019t a state-owned team, but they receive a small amount of money from Israel\u2019s ministry for tourism. The team were founded in 2014 and funded by Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams and American businessman Ron Baron.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adams has said the team can promote a \u201cmore realistic vision of Israel\u201d and the riders can be \u201cambassadors for the country\u201d. He has also called himself a \u201cself-appointed ambassador at large for the State of Israel\u201d. This year, he attended Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration and in June encouraged Trump to attack Iran days before the US did so.\u00a0<\/p>\n
De Marchi said Israel-Premier Tech \u201cgave me a chance to keep riding\u201d and that he was \u201clooking at the house I had to build and my family\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course now I am older and able to reflect in a way I didn\u2019t five years ago, and I appreciate that in life there are times that, though it may be hard, it\u2019s better to follow your morals. Right now I would do things in a different way,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
De Marchi told The Observer<\/a> he has spent the last year learning more about the history of the conflict. \u201cBack then I really understood very little about Israel. The people behind the team had a desire to show off the beauty of the country \u2013 that was a clear policy of the team \u2013 but there were never any feelings against Gaza or Palestinians, or reference to the occupation in the West Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lighter propaganda, let\u2019s say, where the view of Israel was projected.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could feel it was a complex, divided society. But you could also see that there was no space to discuss Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n De Marchi said he would like the UCI to \u201caddress the war\u201d, according to The Observer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to see real action from our governing body to position the cycling world on the right side and to show awareness of what\u2019s going on in Gaza,\u201d De Marchi said. \u201cWe have to show that as a cycling world we care about human rights and international law violations.”<\/p>\n De Marchi\u2019s comments come after the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement called for peaceful protests<\/a> in April at this year\u2019s Grand Tours against the participation of Israel\u2013Premier Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs Israel escalates its ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and its violent military occupation of the West Bank, international sporting bodies have a moral obligation to take all measures to prevent genocide, or risk being held criminally liable,\u201d the BDS movement said in an official statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Protests were visible at the Tour de France<\/a>. Reuters reported<\/a> that protesters waved Palestine flags and unfurled banners as the Tour peloton rode through Dieulefit on Wednesday 23 July.<\/p>\n An activist from Extinction Rebellion was also arrested in Toulouse after running onto the final straight on stage 11 in Toulouse wearing a T-shirt that read \u201cIsrael out of the Tour\u201d while waving a keffiyeh scarf.<\/p>\n The Observer said it contacted Israel\u2013Premier Tech and the team responded, saying they do not comment on \u201ca personal opinion\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his final season as a professional cyclist, Alessandro De Marchi has said he is \u201chappy and relieved\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-30689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2225393273.jpg\")
An Extinction Rebellion activist entered the final straight of stage 11 of the Tour de France wearing a T-shirt that read \u201cIsrael out of the Tour\u201d. Dario Belingheri \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n