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<\/p>\nPAJU\u2019s lawyers gave the city until Tuesday at 4 p.m. to remove Israel-Premier Tech from the participation list.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do not receive written confirmation of the team\u2019s exclusion \u2026 we are mandated to initiate, on behalf of our client, any legal recourse deemed appropriate, without further notice or delay,\u201d the letter read.<\/p>\n
Asked about the demand, a spokesperson for Israel-Premier Tech said: \u201cNo response needed on our end.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal spokesperson said the race organizers would not comment, while the City of Montreal and the UCI World Tour did not respond to requests by Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The demand follows recent calls in Spain for the team to withdraw from the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a after a series of disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters during the three-week Grand Tour race.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s foreign minister also said he would support expelling Israel-Premier Tech from the Vuelta.<\/p>\n
The Vuelta protests prompted Israel-Premier Tech to change its riders\u2019 uniforms at the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the interest of prioritizing the safety of our riders and the entire peloton, in light of the dangerous nature of some protests at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, Israel-Premier Tech has issued riders with team monogram-branded kit for the remainder of the race,\u201d the team said in a statement Saturday. \u201cThe team name remains Israel-Premier Tech, but the monogram kit now aligns with the branding decisions we have previously adopted for our vehicles and casual clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his support for the team on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat job to Sylvan and Israel\u2019s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation. You make Israel proud!\u201d Netanyahu said in a social media post.<\/p>\n
Israel-Premier Tech\u2019s team at the Vuelta includes Canadian rider Pier-Andr\u00e9 C\u00f4t\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Other Canadian riders on the IPT roster include Michael Woods, Hugo Houle, Guillaume Boivin, Riley Pickrell and Derek Gee, who is currently in a contract dispute with the team. Former Canadian star Steve Bauer is the team\u2019s sporting manager.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s title sponsor, Premier Tech, is based in Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup, Que.<\/p>\n
Jean B\u00e9langer, president and CEO of Premier Tech, and fellow Canadian Kevin Ham, founder and CEO of Reinvent and Chit Chats Canada, are partners in the team.<\/p>\n
The Montreal race follows the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec, set for Friday in Quebec City. They are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour, the top men\u2019s road cycling circuit.<\/p>\n
PAJU said it had not issued the same demand to Quebec City.<\/p>\n
Since the most recent Gaza war began in October 2023, pro-Palestinian protests have regularly taken place in Montreal, most notably a months-long encampment at McGill University\u2019s downtown campus last year.<\/p>\n
The Grand Prix also comes amid ongoing friction in Quebec over Muslim prayers during pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including outside Montreal\u2019s Notre-Dame Basilica. On Aug. 28, the provincial government said it would move to ban prayer in public places.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Canadian Olympic runner Moh Ahmed and hundreds of others have signed a letter urging Tennis Canada to cancel this weekend\u2019s Davis Cup tie with Israel in Halifax.<\/p>\n
Tennis Canada said in August the Davis Cup tie would go ahead in Halifax under the International Tennis Federation\u2019s competition structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cTennis Canada acknowledges the ongoing and deeply complex situation in the Middle East,\u201d the organization said in a statement. \u201cOur focus remains on ensuring a safe, fair, and professional competition for all athletes, staff, volunteers and spectators.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 With a file from Neil Davidson in Toronto.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2025.<\/p>\n
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PAJU\u2019s lawyers gave the city until Tuesday at 4 p.m. to remove Israel-Premier Tech from the participation list.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-129516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}