The team is equally as excited. Mike Woods is making his debut as Tour team leader.
“I certainly feel ready for the role. Unlike the other big names, I don’t have the expectations or pressure they have. I think I can be quite competitive at this race. I feel I have shown I am one of the strongest climbers in the peloton. I know that time trials are my weakness, but I feel like I have improved. And my goals are both to do well in the GC and to get stage wins. If I lose too much time in the time trials I will probably have more opportunities to attack in other stages.”
Chris Froome is “really excited for this year’s start,” especially after missing the last two Tours due to recovering from a horrible crash in 2019. “Being back at last really motivates me, and it is special to be here with ISN.”
This year Froome – a four-time Tour de France champion – will be in a supporting role, but he has no problem with that.
“I am not going for GC but only to help the guys around me. Usually, the guys have done everything for me, now it is the other way around and I am glad to be able to pay it back a little.”
Israeli Omer Goldstein is honored to be riding his first Tour.
“It’s really big. I am very excited and come here with a good form. I think we can do something big.”
Goldstein knows his role is to help the team get a stage win or GC, and to be in a break group. In a hilly or mountain stage, I think I can do something in a break. Let’s see what the legs give me.”
Goldstein has trained extensively with Froome, who was very complimentary of his younger teammate.
“Omer is a huge talent coming out of Israel. He is not here as ‘the token Israeli.’ he deserves to be here because he’s a good rider.”
Although he’ll be wearing the ISN blue-and-white, Woods will also be representing Canada, along with Guillaume Boivin, who is making his debut. Woods sees the race as “an opportunity to represent Canada, and hopefully to motivate more Canadians to get on bikes, which is really important to me.”
The Canadian-Israeli Adams agreed.
“We are the natural team for two countries – Israel of course, but also we are Canada’s team. I am really happy that we have two Canadians and one Israeli in our Tour de France line-up.”
At the Tour, the team will also be competing with the motto of “Racing for Change.”
As Adams put it, “We are more than just a cycling team. There is a Jewish concept called tikkun olam, an imperative to help improve the world. We are doing so by adopting a women’s team in Rwanda, the only women’s team there. We want to not only help them but to use it as a message to society to increase unity and peace in the world.”