Italian cycling race excludes Israeli team, citing safety concerns amid Gaza War tensions

The Italian Giro dell’Emilia cycling race has officially excluded the Israel Premier Tech team citing safety concerns. The one-day competition is held annually in the Bologna region of northern Italy.

Adriano Amici, the president of GS Emilia, confirmed that the Israeli team “will unfortunately not be present at our race. We had to make this decision for reasons of public security.”

“There’s too much danger for both the Israel Tech riders and others. The race’s final circuit is run five times, so the possibility of the race being disrupted is very high,” Amici stated.

“It’s a decision I regret having to make from a sporting perspective, but I had no other choice for public safety,” he added. However, it remains unclear whether the primary motive for excluding the Israeli team is safety concerns or anti-Israel politics.

The city of Bologna, currently governed by the center-left Democratic Party (PD), urged the competition to exclude the Israeli team, accusing the Israeli government of committing “serious crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel has strongly rejected the widespread accusations of genocide and famine in Gaza.

Bologna’s sports councilor, Roberta Li Calzi, welcomed the decision to exclude the Israeli team from the race.

"We believe that sport is a vehicle of universal values of sharing, fair competition, solidarity between people," Li Calzi told the media on Saturday. "We are satisfied to learn that this opinion is shared by the organization of the race, which today officially confirmed to us that the Israeli team will not take part in the Giro dell’Emilia.”

"I thank them for this sensitivity, which I believe is shared by a large part of our community," she added. She argued that, given the situation in Gaza, it would have been hypocritical to ignore the presence of a team linked to the Israeli government. However, the team is privately co-owned by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams.

The team’s sponsor, Premier Tech, announced that it expects the team to adopt a new name that removes “Israel,” creating a new identity and brand. The company stated that the current name is no longer sustainable given the circumstances.

"We acknowledge and are mindful that the international situation has evolved significantly since our debut at the World Tour level in 2017,” Premier Tech added.

Last month, anti-Israel activists attempted to block the Israeli team’s cyclists from participating in the Vuelta a España multi-stage road race in Spain. The activists were seen holding banners with the message “Neutrality is complicity. Boycott Israel.”

The Israeli team responded that it “absolutely condemns the dangerous acts of the protesters on stage 5 of the Vuelta a España, which not only compromised the safety of our riders, race personnel, but the protesters themselves.”

Diplomatic relations between Italy and Israel are still considered solid at the national level.