Cycling Academy<\/a>, is remarkable. The idea of forming an Israeli club to compete on the international circuit developed serendipitously in late 2013, when Ran Margaliot, a former Israeli national cycling champion, went for a ride in the Nes Harim foothills outside Jerusalem and met Ron Baron, a recreational biker and fan of the sport.<\/p>\nBaron, a finance industry professional who lives near Tel Aviv, agreed to put up almost all the money required (about $1 million this year, with $100,000 going to cover the Colorado costs alone), and the pair got Peter Sagan, a successful Slovak cyclist, to lend his name to the venture.<\/p>\n
Margaliot, 27, calls the team a typical Israeli start-up \u2014 albeit in a realm where until now Israel has been virtually absent. Margaliot long had dreamt of becoming the first Israeli to qualify for the Tour de France, presumably on some other country\u2019s team, but after falling short he turned his attention to improving opportunities for other Israelis.<\/p>\n
The team aims to project a positive image of Israel at races and events \u2013 to show that it \u201cis a normal country, and that this is part of the development of a young country,\u201d Margaliot said.<\/p>\n
The Cycling Academy\u2019s 13 riders, all men, include five Israeli Jews and eight non-Jewish Europeans: four Poles, two Slovaks, a Czech and a Spaniard. Its diversity is by design, according to Baron, who owns the team. He wants to attract fans from the riders\u2019 homelands, many of which, like Israel, lack a professional cycling culture.<\/p>\n
The Israeli team has received inquiries from competitive cyclists throughout the world \u2013 including riders from Morocco, Algeria and even Iran, according to Baron. The Israeli rock star Ivri Lider, a biker, was enlisted to design the team\u2019s green and black uniforms.<\/p>\n
Among the highlights of the team\u2019s first year are winning stages of the Tour d\u2019Azerbaidjan, the Tour de Berlin and the four-country Visegrad 4 Bicycle Race.<\/p>\n
The spectacle of the Israeli club\u2019s rider \u2014 Daniel Turek of the Czech Republic \u2014 leading in Azerbaijan, with spectators in the Muslim-majority country lining the course, \u201cwas a proud moment,\u201d said Tsadok Yecheskeli, an Israeli journalist who is handling the team\u2019s media relations.<\/p>\n
The cyclists train in Slovakia and Israel, but Colorado is being considered as an additional training site, Yecheskeli said. That’s because the altitude there offers ideal training opportunities — and because, Margaliot said, the team has received a warmer welcome this week in the state \u201cthan anywhere else in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
As at other races, the Israeli team has built support this week distributing Israeli flags to bystanders at each stage of the Colorado competition. The race started Monday in Steamboat Springs and winds between several ski resorts before ending Sunday with a final leg stretching from the city of Golden to Civic Center Park in Denver.<\/p>\n
One non-Jewish spectator, Gary Burge, waved the Israeli flag at Tuesday\u2019s stage in the mountains outside Steamboat Springs. A veterinarian, Burge was there with his wife, Lori, and another couple because they are all cyclists who admire the world-class athletes competing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it changed anything about how we look at Israel and the plight of Israel because we know it very well. But it\u2019s one more thing to be inspired by,\u201d Burge said. Noting the appeal of rooting for an upstart on the circuit with talented young riders at its core, he added, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be Jewish to be aligned with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burge said the couples were drawn to the team when their Jewish friends, Michael and Michelle Osterman, hosted a reception Sunday for the riders. The Ostermans had learned of the Israeli team\u2019s existence just four days earlier.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, the team\u2019s director, Slovakia native Jan Valach, asked Michael Osterman to take the cyclists on a training ride. Osterman went the request one better, bringing them to the course of Stage 1, which they\u2019d cycle three days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt never dawned on me that Israel would have a pro bike team,\u201d said Osterman, a retired marketing professional. \u201cThey\u2019re planting the seeds to create something for the future \u2014 although for this event, it\u2019s a pretty big deal that they made it this far, this fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osterman\u2019s son, Matthew, runs a family business in Denver, the Sleeping Giant Brewery Company, which will host the Israeli squad for a mellow evening of drinking craft beer next Monday, after the race is over.<\/p>\n
There\u2019ll be chairs there, of course. But after sitting all week, the cyclists might very well opt to stand on their own two feet.<\/p>\n
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