Andrés Iniesta arrives at the World Tour: the new NSN Cycling Team is the definitive farewell to Israel

The project that operated for years under the umbrella of Israel Premier Tech is now history. The team completes a total transformation and reappears with a completely new identity: NSN Cycling Team, a team with a Swiss license, operational base in Barcelona and Girona, and a vision that completely distances itself from the past. The entry of NSN (Never Say Never), the company linked to former Spanish footballer Andrés Iniesta, has been the accelerator that keeps the structure alive while redefining it to compete from 2026 with renewed ambition.

The Israel team turns the page, the new NSN Cycling Team is born

The operation has been articulated between NSN and Stoneweg, a global investment platform based in Geneva and linked to the team since 2023. Together, they have launched a new company to manage both the WorldTour team and the development team, which will be called NSN Cycling Team and NSN Development Team, respectively.

The break with the past is total: the name Israel disappears, Sylvan Adams is no longer involved, and the new head of the structure will be Kjell Carlström. The operational core moves to Catalonia, a territory that already serves as a training center for much of the international peloton and gains relevance in the lead-up to the 2026 Tour de France, whose Grand Départ will take place precisely in Barcelona.

NSN is a global sports and entertainment company that emerged seven years ago with offices in Barcelona, Mexico, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. It is now fully entering the cycling world, taking advantage of the sport's growth worldwide. Its trajectory includes international football tours, audiovisual production, talent management, and marketing projects that have allowed the company to build a solid international presence. It even has direct ties to cycling thanks to its majority stake in GUAVA, a brand specialized in gravel bikes.

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The entry of Stoneweg as a strategic shareholder of NSN guarantees economic stability and a growth horizon that goes beyond professional sports: both organizations believe that cycling represents values aligned with their philosophy and a particularly attractive potential for global expansion in the coming years.

Although it is not yet official, Biniam Girmay's arrival at the team will be the central piece of the new project. The Eritrean, one of the most sought-after names in the WorldTour, will fit into a block that has already confirmed a large roster but without the figure of Chris Froome, who will not continue in this stage.

The team currently includes riders such as Lewis Askey, George Bennett, Joseph Blackmore, Guillaume Boivin, Marco Frigo, Jan Hirt, Hugo Hofstetter, Alexey Lutsenko, Pau Martí, Ryan Mullen, Krists Neilands, Alessandro Pinarello, Riley Sheehan, Jake Stewart, Corbin Strong, and Ethan Vernon, among others. Girmay's arrival will be the sporting boost that will set the team's course from 2026.

The NSN Cycling Team will hold its first preseason concentration in the coming days, where it will define the technical organization chart, its sports model, and the roadmap for its leap to the WorldTour. In the coming weeks, the new jersey, corporate image, and competition calendar will be presented, key elements for a structure that aims to be born with a strong identity and a clear message: it is an international project, but with a marked Spanish accent.

Professional cycling thus adds a new player, backed by solid investment, a sports project with ambition, and a direct connection to the Catalan cycling ecosystem. The former Israel Premier Tech seems to be left behind, and the era of the NSN Cycling Team begins.