They drew quite the attention when they arrived on Belgian shores this spring: Israel Cycling Academy had their first season as a procontinental squad last year, but next year might even be bigger. In preparation of their most high-profile season yet, the team's transfer season has been on fire. Let's take some time to look at it in this fourth (1 , 2 , 3) instalment of "Teams of '18".


Who is Israel Cycling Academy again, and what did they do in 2017?
Israel Cycling Academy joined the procontinental ranking at the beginning of last season. They are, as the name suggests, based in Israel and were founded a few years back mainly to help develop young Israeli talent. According to their own website, most of their funding comes from philanthropy, naming Canadian millionaire Sylvan Adams as a main investor, and not from the Israeli government, but the team do regard themselves as "Israel's ambassador" to tourists and cycling fans around the world.

One of their most well known riders in 2017 must have been Dan Craven, or DanfromNam as he is known on twitter. Dan made the international news during the 2016 Olympics, when he already rode for the team, because of his hilarious online presence and his unprepared ITT. Nevertheless, he wasn't the rider bringing in the results in 2017 and will not be returning to the team in 2018.

Krists Neilands in his national jersey

The team has a knack for collecting national champions: Craven had been national champion while in the ICA squad, and so had Mihkel Raim (Estonia, 2016), the sprinter who brought the team stage wins in the Tour de Slovakia, the Tour d'Azerbeijan and the Colorado Classic in 2017. In 2016 they also collected the Mexican national jersey through Luis Lemus, who's definitely Dan Craven's heir when it comes to the team's twitter presence. Krist Neilands won 2017's Latvian National road race along with a stage in Azerbeijan, with Guy Sagiv and Roy Goldstein the team has had a monopoly on the Israeli road ánd time trial championships for a while.

The team's top star though is Guillaume Boivin, who carried the Canadian road race jersey for the team in the first half of 2016. Boivin won a stage and came second in another and in the GC of the Tour of Taihu Lake and the Coppa Bernocchi. Boivin is an all rounder who can sprint, time trial and digest a hill. The other team member who collects UCI-points in buckets is Zakkari Dempster. This Australian classics rider / sprinter rarely wins, but collects decent placings in high level races with a tough field, including his 7th place in the Ride London Classic.


Who is the team attracting in 2018
Because of the Giro-start in Israel in 2018, the team has high hopes for a wild card. As such, the team wanted to make the most from the transfer season. Have they managed to do so?


One of their most visible signings was Ahmet Örken. Örken is the Turkish time-trial champion and showed he's got a decent sprint in the Tour of Turkey. His meaning for the team is mostly symbolic though, as he hopes to represent a positive connection between Turkey and Israel even though the countries politically are increasingly at odds. To have someone riding in the moon-and-star jersey is a mayor PR boon to the team.

From Norway, the Cycling Academy team has got two new signings: August Jensen comes over from domestic team COOP, while Sondre Holst Enger makes the move from AG2R. Both are sprinters with the endurance to survive a hill or a classics-type race. They might try to win something for themselves, but they'll most likely also support sprinter Kristian Sbaragli. The Italian rider has worked in Mark Cavendish' sprint train, but was one of the most active riders for Dimension Data in the beginning of the 2017 Giro. He hopes to ride for his own glory, and I think he'll function as the team's main sprinter for the coming year. Or will he?

From Colombia, the team has brought in Edwin Avila, former national champion and multiple time track world champion. The 28 year old excels in versitablity, taking wins in mountain stages and flat stages alike, mostly in uci 2.1 races. The team says they hope to develop Avila further, and has mentioned him explicitly as a starter for the Giro d'Italia. Another work horse brought onto the squad is Nathan Earle, formerly of Team Sky, who has spend a season on PCT and another at CT level since. As a teammate of Aberasturi at Team UKYO, his last season in the east went pretty well, and his step to ICA is step back to higher level racing.

Ruben Plaza versus Ben Hermans: a tale of two leaders.
But who will lead? The team has also brough in some mountain pedigree. Two names have been put forward as team leaders.

The first is Rubén Plaza. Those who have been following a bit longer now know I've got a soft spot for this giant of a mercenary. Although he's had plenty of personal wins back in the 00's followed by a long and successful career as a domestique, his most shining moments of glory came in the Tour and Vuelta of 2015. With no leader to support, Plaza was free to chase his own glory once more. After spending the whole day in the break, he attacked and after an impressive solo effort managed to hold off his former fellow escapees. Plaza repeated this achievement shortly after, this time not only holding off the remains of the break, but also the furious chase by the GC favourites. Since then he's been working in the aid of Esteban Chaves at Orica.

Plaza leaving behind his fellow escapees

The second leader is Ben Hermans. Hermans is someone who slipped under my radar, but 2017 turned out to be a wonder season for the 31 year old Belgian. He kicked off with a second place in the GC of the Volta a Comunitat Valencia, behind Nairo Quintana. Two weeks later he followed this up with two stage wins and a GC win in the Tour of Oman, outclimbing Fabio Aru on the Green Mountain. Hermans had to leave the Giro d'Italia with a stomach bug, but before he left he stood fifteenth in the GC, best placed of his country and of his team, even though he was not their appointed leader. The latter half of his season was less explosive, but still admirable with top 15 placings in the Italian autumn classics and a 5th place in the GC of the star studded Tour of Guangxi.


Now, what will be the game plan for these two riders in the Giro? Ben Hermans has the best recent GC results, but not in a three week race. Ruben Plaza has finished 6th in the Vuelta before, but that was a long time ago, way back in 2005. What Plaza will want, probably, is not a go at the Giro GC: rather he'll want a free role to attack and to try and win stages, with an option on the mountain jersey. As for Hermans, I wonder: will he go for a GC spot between 10th and 15th? Perhaps a bit higher with so many names skipping the Giro in favour of the Tour? Or will he too go stage hunting? Whichever it is, he's shown in last year's Giro that he can go at it without the full support of a team behind him. My guess is that he'll give the GC a try with a mind to switch to stage hunting if needed. In this way, Plaza and Hermans can both 'lead' without requiring much support from each other. In addition, Edwin Avila and Kristian Sbaragli will almost certainly ride the Giro. I suspect the other four spots will be filled with all-rounders who'll mostly have to try and support Sbaragli, including a national jersey or two to showcase them.

The verdict
I think Israel Cycling Academy has built up an impressive team for the 2018 season, fitting with their ambition and their level. Team 'veterans' Mikel Raim, Dempster and Boivin along with the team's base of young Israeli riders will keep the room to improve, while newcomers will collect results in the higher level races. The team is well rounded with climbers such as Krists Neilands, Ruben Plaza and Ben Hermans surrounded by sprinters, opportunists and classics riders that can work in support of each other when needed.

If you want to see more like this, here are part one, an analysis of Euskadi-Murias, part two, on all three teams of the Orica family, and part three on Aqua Blue Sport.  Our next instalment will take us to a prolific team in the women's peloton! 

A short political disclaimer. There are -and have always been- sponsors trying to improve their dubious reputations through cycling. Whether it's the Turkish presidency buying their own World Tour race, regimes with dubious human rights records such as Kazachstan, Bahrain or the UAE sponsoring teams or similar regimes bidding on mass events such as a world championship or, indeed, a Grand Departure of a Grand Tour; the sponsorship model inevitably draws sponsors that have a reputation to clean up.The fact that this article does not focus on that side of the story takes nothing away from the valid political points that can be made, but neither does that mean there's nothing to be said about the team based on cycling merit alone, which I have tried to do here.