A potential reprieve, though, was not far away, and it arrived in an unlikely form: Andr\u00e9s Iniesta, the Spanish World Cup-winning footballer and Barcelona great. In November, Iniesta, 41, bought Israel-Premier Tech \u2014 previously owned by Sylvan Adams, a Canadian-Israeli billionaire \u2014 through his sport and entertainment company Never Say Never (NSN), in conjunction with Stoneweg, a Switzerland-based investment company. He rebranded the team as NSN Cycling. <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/55fdb6fd-7314-44f1-8d66-d2d4addc468e.jpg\")
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A protester confronts police in Madrid during the 2025 Vuelta, which was subject to repeated disruptions<\/p>\n
PABLO BLAZQUEZ DOMINGUEZ\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
Adams withdrew his involvement and the team removed their association with Israel, now describing themselves as a Swiss team, with a Spanish structure, based in Barcelona and Girona.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it will be completely different,\u201d Prudhomme said. \u201cThe former team is now a Swiss team, it\u2019s another name and there is a well-known former Spanish football player [involved]. Catalonia is very proud to have the Tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are on the roads, on the streets, that is cycling, that is why cycling is so big. But things have changed and that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iniesta was an integral part of the great Barcelona<\/a> team that won four Champions League titles between 2006 and 2015, forming an iconic midfield trio with Xavi and Sergio Busquets. He was part of the Spain team who won the European Championship in 2008 and 2012 and scored the winning goal against the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup final.<\/p>\n Iniesta celebrates his winning goal for Spain in the 2010 World Cup final against the Netherlands<\/p>\n GABRIEL BOUYS\/AFP<\/p>\n His passion for cycling developed as a child, when he would watch the grand tours with his grandfather. Since he hung up his boots in 2024, after spells playing in Japan and the UAE, he has devoted more time to developing NSN, the company he co-founded in 2018, working on projects such as Inter Miami\u2019s pre-season tour, the MotoGP awards ceremony and a Johnny Depp exhibition.<\/p>\n Now he has taken charge of a cycling team for the first time. \u201cI\u2019m excited to dive deeper into cycling, learn more and appreciate the huge amount of work behind every rider,\u201d he said at the team\u2019s launch last month. \u201cThe goal for the team is simple: keep growing, enjoy the journey, and show what a united team can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n As an early illustration of their ambition, NSN signed Biniam Girmay, the Eritrean who won the points classification at the Tour in 2024. The team have five British riders \u2014 Ethan Vernon, Steve Williams, Joe Blackmore, Lewis Askey and Jake Stewart \u2014 but that contingent no longer includes Chris Froome, 40, who has left the team he joined in 2021 following a serious crash in August, when he suffered a life-threatening heart injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pressure had been building on Israel-Premier Tech to rebrand after the repeated pro-Palestine protests at La Vuelta over the conflict in Gaza. Shortly after the conclusion of the race, the team were barred from competing at the Giro dell\u2019Emilia in Italy over security concerns and Premier Tech, the Canadian company, withdrew its sponsorship in early November, even though the team had agreed to remove Israel from their name.<\/p>\n The Israel-Premier Tech team bus is guarded by police at La Vuelta last year in Bilbao<\/p>\n DARIO BELINGHERI\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n The change of ownership to NSN was then announced that month and Adams said that he would be stepping back from day-to-day involvement. Although Adams was present at a team training camp in Spain, \u00d3scar Guerrero, the directeur sportif, said that the former owner was simply bidding farewell. \u201cIt was a way of saying goodbye, of making the transfer to the new members, leaving everything in good hands,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n While there had been sporadic protests against the team before last year\u2019s Vuelta, they came to a head in Spain<\/a>, including protesters knocking down barriers and occupying the road where cyclists were due to pass on the final stage to Madrid. Before that, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, the Spanish prime minister, had expressed his admiration for the protesters.<\/p>\n The upheaval inevitably created doubts over the feasibility of the Grand D\u00e9part of the 2026 Tour being held in Barcelona, with the city council demanding that Israel-Premier Tech be excluded from the race. But the subsequent changes to the ownership of the team and the high-profile involvement of Iniesta seem to have eased fears of widespread protest.<\/p>\n![\"Spain's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/b3e1d9d5-928a-4873-9b4e-3b4a78aebc4d.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/\/6ed91715-3a2b-42eb-b324-ba50979948b7.jpg\")
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