Israel Startup Nation, which began its first training camp "after COVID" in Jerusalem, announced contract extensions for the four Israeli riders on the team.

Guy Sagiv, Itamar Einhorn, Guy Niv, and Omer Goldstein bring the team to 30 members for the upcoming season, completing the lineup for the third year of the World Tour.

Sagiv joined the team midway through his debut year in 2015 and is entering his eighth season. Goldstein and Niv have been with the team since 2018.

The addition of these four players to the 2022 team continues the team's philosophy of promoting homegrown talent, including the Israel Cycling Academy's Continental team, which will include a record number of nine Israeli athletes in 2022.

"The Israeli athletes are constantly progressing. Last year we witnessed their great results."

"We also have a new generation of young Israeli riders coming up in our development team. It's great to be able to help them take on the challenge of evolving as riders. Overall, we are looking forward to more great performances by Israeli riders in the coming years. Both in terms of personal results and in helping their teammates succeed."

Niv (27) and Sagiv (26) were part of the team in the first Grand Tour, which kicked off in Israel with the 2018 Giro d'Italia back in 2018, with Sagiv becoming the first Israeli to complete a Grand Tour and Niv two years later becoming the Tour de France two years later, Niv became the first Israeli to complete the Tour de France.

Sagiv has five national titles in road and time trial, and Niv won the time trial title in 2019.

"I think this past year was a turning point for the group," Sagiv said. 'We Israelis have been given opportunities and have been able to gain leading positions, not just because we are Israelis on an Israeli team, but by the fact that we are running at the same level as the rest of the team.' I expect this trend to continue and hope that the next generation will follow in our footsteps.

Niv added. Last year, the Israeli riders on our team showed great growth and achieved results and accomplishments that we had not seen before. I am confident that this trend will continue next year and that we will see even greater things. Personally, I intend to continue to improve and move forward next season. I look forward to supporting the team and contributing to the results in the big races as well as getting the chance to lead and win in the smaller races."

[20 [Meanwhile, Einhorn defeated Peter Sagan in a sprint finish on the final stage of the Tour of Slovakia in September, the best moment of the year for the Israeli squad.

"I am proud to continue riding with my Israeli teammates. I'm proud to keep running with my Israeli teammates," Einhorn said. Now I feel like I have my limits."

The foursome will continue through the 2022 season, with ICA team manager Aviad Yisrael saying: "

This deal is the last off-season move for the team, which has purchased the 2020 license for the folding Katusha Alpecin and has been promoted to the World Tour This is the last move of the off-season for the team.

This season, the team will bid farewell to retiring Andre Greipel and Dan Martin, Davide Simolai and Alexis Renard will head to Cofidis, and Hugo Hofstetter to Arkea Samsic.

Newly recruited Giacomo Nizzolo, Jacob Fuglsang, and Corbin Strong will meet their new teammates for the first time this week when they convene in Israel for the first team training camp in nearly two seasons. Nizzolo and Fuglsang will join four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, Classics veteran Sepp Vanmarcke, and Canadian climber Michael Woods as team leaders.

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