Cycling Academy Team (CAT) made history in Qatar on two accounts after becoming the first professional Israeli team to compete at the UCI World Championships and, by doing so, in an Arab country.
In a week of firsts, CAT has announced that it is stepping up to a new league in 2017; they will join the ranks of the UCI Pro Continental circuit, which will present a major challenge for the emerging team.
CAT reaffirmed that it had completed all the technical requirements for the UCI which has approved its application to race at the Pro Continental level for 2017.
"In Doha we made the strongest and clearest statement we could possibly have demonstrated,” said team owner and founder Ron Baron, having congratulated his six riders who completed the tough 42km TTT race in the scorching desert heat.
"We have come a very long way in the shortest possible time. From the founding of the first Israeli professional cycling team in Jerusalem, to racing on the biggest stage in Doha, the team is poised to make further important advances in its new status. We certainly have a long way to go, but we are ready to invest both in human and financial resources to compete at the next level.”
We have come a long way in the shortest possible time
In order to accomplish the goal of competing at the UCI Pro Continental level, the team secured the support of new board member, Sylvan Adams, a Canadian-Israeli businessman and philanthropist — who along with Baron — supplied the required budget for the new status. CAT is also unique as the world’s only not-for-profit pro cycling team.
Adams, a World Masters champion himself, declared his enthusiastic commitment to the team. He said: “We are building a great team for our first year as a Pro Continental programme. We need to be competitive and we are doing what is needed to perform at this level.”
In anticipation of the tougher, more gruelling race schedule ahead in 2017, the team has rebuilt its roster as a combination of new and returning riders; the newly added riders were selected based on their talent and experience designed around stage wins and success at one-day races. So far the team has announced several signings for the 2017 season, including Canadian U23 champion Benjamin Perry from Silber pro cycling team and American Classics specialist Tyler Williams.
Returning riders include Dan Turek, Mihkel Raim, Guillaume Buillaume and Luis Lemus, who are all national champions, together with others not yet announced, to be the most multi-national team. All the CAT riders will wear the Israeli flag on their racing jerseys.
Team manager and former Saxobank Pro Ran Margoliot said: “We will shortly complete the roster for 2017 and we are certain we will have a strong, balanced mix of young and veteran riders who can take the lead and inspire our younger riders.”
The team is targeting a Grand-Tour debut in 2018, and as such, has set itself a challenging race schedule for the new season, including Milan – San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, the Amstel Gold Race, the Tour of California and the Tour of Britain.
