Competitive in 2023 Tour Down Under
Israel’s only professional men’s cycling team, Israel Premier Tech (IPT), got their 2023 season off to a great start at the Tour Down Under in South Australia last week. Their 23-year-old Aussie rider Sebastian Berwick finished 13th overall in the general classification, after a solid ride through the Mount Lofty ranges in the fifth and last stage. Fellow Aussie Jay Vine, who rides for team UAE Emirates, was the overall winner.
Team IPT’s Kiwi rider Corbin Strong was coming as high as eighth after the first two stages, but a heavy crash in stage three set him back.
Their South African team member, Daryl Impey, was impressive, earning the most aggressive rider award in stage three.
Impey, together with Briton Chris Froome and Aussie Simon Clarke, will represent IPT in this Sunday’s elite men’s Cadel Road Race in Geelong and Victoria’s surf coast – Australia’s only UCI World Tour one-day classic.
In more good news for IPT, it received confirmation of entry to the 2023 Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, and its most experienced Israeli team members – Itamar Einhorn, Omer Goldstein and Guy Sagiv – completed an intensive training camp in southern Spain to prepare for the Classica Comunitat Valenciana, which begins this Sunday.
“We are expected to give more, and bring results [in 2023] – and we will do it,” Sagiv said.
Meanwhile Israel Cycling Academy – which aims to be the best Continental Tour team – signed 11 new promising young cyclists, including four Israelis: Nadav Raisberg, Oded Kogut, Roi Weinberg and Rotem Tene.
Three academy members moved up to IPT last season, and more are expected to knock on that door this season.
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