Tour de France winner Chris Froome will make his Israel Start-Up Nation (ISN) debut next month at the UAE tour.
 
The British cycling legend will compete alongside Israeli champion Omer Goldstein in the first WorldTour race of 2021, taking place from February 21 to 27.
 
It will mark just the second time an Israeli team will participate in the event, and the first since Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to an historic peace treaty last August.
 
Seven-time Grand Tour winner Froome, 35, competed for Manchester-based Team Ineos (now Ineos Grenadiers) for a decade before signing with the Israeli outfit last summer.
 
Goldstein, who raced from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in 2020, was looking forward to combining forces with his new teammate for the first time.
 
He said: “It's great to return, this time as the Israeli champion.
 
“I hope that this time we will have Israelis visiting the UAE as peace tourists, coming to support us in person for the first time!”
 
The US-brokered peace deal facilitated full diplomatic relations between the countries and opened up the Persian Gulf country to Israeli tourists.
 
Multiple reports last week claimed upwards of 50,000 Israelis had visited the UAE since the first visitors landed in November.
 
ISN’s co-owner, Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams said: “It is great to be returning to the Emirates, with whom Israel signed a peace accord in September.
 
“I had the privilege of being present at the White House in Washington for the signing of the historic Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain.
 
“We received a warm welcome from our neighbours last year, and I’m looking forward to renewing our friendships under this new umbrella of peace.”
 
The 2021 UAE Tour will start and finish in Abu Dhabi.
 
Froome and Goldstein will face a stiff 20-team strong field of competition including UAE Team Emirates led by 2020 Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar.
 
Briton Adam Yates is also set to defend his 2020 UAE Tour title for Ineos Grenadiers.
 
Froome, who is currently training in California, was supposed to start at the Vuelta a San Juan this month but the race was cancelled due to Covid-19.
 
He has struggled since sustaining multiple career-threatening injuries during a horrific 2019 crash in France.
 
But ISN team manager Kjell Carlstrom was confident his star cyclist would be in top form for his team debut.
 
He said: “Chris has been making great progress in California, rehabilitating from his injuries.
 
“We are excited to see him racing soon.”