Canadian rider Guillaume Boivin has signed a contact extension that will keep him a 10th season with Israel-Premier Tech.
鈥淚鈥檓 super happy to stay with the team for next year,鈥� Boivin said in a statement. 鈥淚 have been here since 2016, so it feels like I鈥檓 staying at home for one more year.鈥�
The 35-year-old from Montreal has several wins to his name with Israel-Premier Tech and has helped teammates to other victories including Stevie Williams' victory at the Tour Down Under to start this season.
鈥淕uillaume Boivin joined us in the team鈥檚 second year when we were a Continental (lower-level) Team starting out,鈥� said team general manager Kjell Carlstrom. 鈥淎s a team, we have come a long way since then and so has Guillaume, developing into one of the team鈥檚 most valuable support riders. Every team needs riders like Guillaume so we are happy to see him round out a decade with us next year.鈥�
"He is truly part of our DNA鈥�, said Canadian-Israeli entrepreneur Sylvan Adams, co-owner of Israel-Premier Tech.
Only Israeli rider Guy Sagiv has been with the team longer.
Boivin has raced in eight Grand Tour events, including the last four editions of the Tours de France.
He won the Famenne Ardenne Classic, a one-day race in Belgium, in 2018 and the Tour of Taihu Lake prologie in 2017 in China. Boivin won his third national road title in 2021.
Other Canadian riders on the Israel-Premier Tech pro roster are Michael Woods, Derek Gee, Hugo Houle, Riley Pickrell and Pier-Andre Cote, who was promoted from the Israel-Premier Tech academy earlier this month.
Fellow Canadians Jean Belanger, president and CEO of Premier Tech based in Riviere-du-Loup. Que., and Kevin Ham are also partners in the cycling team. Former star rider Steve Bauer is the head sports director while fellow Canadian Paulo Saldanha is the team's performance director.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
