The Israel Premier–Tech Cycling Team scored a historic victory at the Tour of Rwanda on Monday, the first time an Israeli champion has triumphed in the sporting event.
“This is undoubtedly a great victory,” rider Itamar Einhorn, 26, from Modi’in, said of winning the 130-kilometer second stage of the eight-day race in three hours, 17 minutes and 31 seconds. “There’s no better way to start the season. I’m ecstatic!”
The victory in Rwanda comes as Israel-Premier Tech marks the first anniversary of the Field of Dreams cycling center. Initiated by the team and owner Sylvan Adams, with the generous support of more than 1,000 team fans, the center has become a symbol of hope and opportunity for aspiring cyclists in Rwanda’s Bugesera district and beyond.
“I am proud of the work that my Israel-Premier Tech bike team did in Rwanda, in building this Field of Dreams for aspiring cyclists of all ages,” Adams said. “Despite the challenges, including the tragic events of the Oct. 7, we are inspired by the resilience of both the Israeli and Rwandan peoples.”
Following the stage, the Israeli team paid tribute to the 5,000 victims of the 1994 genocide at the nearby Ntarama Genocide Memorial Centre.
Adams, a billionaire Canadian-Israeli real estate magnate who made aliyah in 2015, has worked to change Israel’s image among non-Jews through high-profile sports and cultural activities.
Last December, he made a $100 million donation to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva to strengthen the south in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, in one of the largest donations ever made to an Israeli university.
In an interview with JNS, he said that the wave of anti-Israel activity around the world in the wake of the Hamas attack, aided by “useful idiots” and the media, had exposed an underlying antisemitism that never went away.
