The 2018 Giro D’Italia marks the event’s 101st running, and the first time ever that any of the Grand Tours has started outside of Europe. That it’s starting in Israel makes that fact even more amazing, considering how the news of the Western World tends to focus on things that don’t involve a massive startup culture, amazing outdoor recreation opportunities, a safe and friendly culture, and a growing cycling scene. The latter is the reason the Giro was brought here, with a two-fold goal: Increase awareness of Israel as a cycling destination, and to increase the locals’ awareness of cycling. And that latter point also has a two-fold goal: Make drivers more aware of cyclists, and get more people out on bikes. There’s more to that story, so we’ll continue on in a separate post later.
This post is about the Israel Cycling Academy’s team bikes, so I’ll touch on the team itself first. This is the first Israeli pro cycling team to enter a Grand Tour. On it are the first two Israeli pro cyclists to ever race in a Grand Tour: Guy Sagiv, left, is the former Israel road race national champion, and Guy Niv (right).
Being a new team didn’t stop them from nabbing some great sponsors like FSA, Selle Italia, Oakley and Jaguar.
The bikes are from DeRosa and include the SK Pininfarina aero bike…
…and the Protos for standard stages.
The Protos bikes received a sparkly paint finish that accentuates the team’s logo well.
FSA cranks paired with Power2Max power meters and a KMC X11SL chain:
There also one of the (if not the) only teams running something other than Continental or Vittoria tires. Schwalbe Durano tires keep them rolling on Vision wheels.
Berk Composites makes carbon frames, handlebar/stem combos and these number plate holders.
The DeRosa TT03 frames got a different speckle paint that resembled the camp cups, except in white. It made them look plastic, which was kinda cool.
Check out every team’s bikes from the 2018 Giro here!
