By The Canadian Press

Montreal cycling Grand Prix draws protests against Israel-Premier Tech team

Sep 14, 2025 | 9:57 AM

MONTREAL — Nearly 200 protesters gathered along the route of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal on Sunday to oppose the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team in the race.

The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted “Boycott the Grand Prix, boycott IPT” and “solidarity with Palestine” to the beat of drums.

Protesters gathered at the foot of Mount Royal along Avenue du Parc, where barriers lined the course. A large yellow sign planted in the grass read: “Israel-Premier Tech ambassador of genocide.”

A heavy police presence included officers on foot, on bicycles and even on horseback.

They carried out an undisclosed number of arrests, including for assaulting a peace officer and for obstructing police work.

Overnight detours on Highway 1

Highway 1 detours through Langley for the next 3 weeks will begin this Tuesday: B.C. govt.

27m ago

Wind warning

Wind warning in effect for the Coquihalla between Hope and Merritt, Crowsnest east of Hope

1h ago

Road project in Chilliwack

Multi-use pathway project on Knight Road in Chilliwack to wrap up next month

2h ago

“Officers had to manage several simultaneous demonstrations. In the vast majority of cases, the protesters co-operated with police and the race went on without interruption,” said Manuel Couture, spokesman for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal.

In a social media post, the groups Cyclists for Palestine, Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) and Divest for Palestine — who organized the demonstration — called on citizens to mobilize and urged event organizers and sponsors to “exclude the team complicit in genocide from the Grands Prix in Quebec.”

The organizations accused Israel-Premier Tech of being “complicit with the genocidal entity” and engaging in “sportswashing,” a term used when an organization uses sports to improve its reputation and cover up its wrongdoings.

“We are whitewashing a genocide through a sports team, and we absolutely refuse to have our streets host a team that is whitewashing an ongoing genocide,” said Safa Chebbi, a spokesperson for Divest For Palestine, at the protest site.

The three organizations stressed that Sunday’s demonstration was a “last resort” to demand Israel-Premier Tech’s exclusion, noting they had already launched a petition, published an open letter and appealed to municipal authorities in the cities hosting the Grand Prix.

“Governments and all public institutions aren’t listening to this message. Yet I think it’s important to point out that when it came to the Russian team after the invasion of Ukraine, action was taken quickly,” Chebbi said. “Now it’s been two years of a genocide recognized by many international organizations, and yet there is difficulty in making this kind of decision.”

A large group of protesters gathered outside the event’s official hotel in downtown Montreal on Saturday night.

On Friday, a handful of pro-Palestinian demonstrators also protested at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec race in Quebec City.

Protests against Israel-Premier Tech have also taken place in recent weeks at the Spanish Vuelta, which led the team to remove any reference to Israel from its jerseys.

While several Vuelta stages were cut short due to protests, riders completed every lap in Montreal.

American cyclist Brandon McNulty won the race after UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Tadej Pogacar, a four-time Tour de France winner, let him cross the finish line first.

Israel-Premier Tech is co-owned by Canadian-Israeli businessman Sylvan Adams. He has previously described the riders as ambassadors for Israel, but the team has since referred to itself as simply a “professional cycling team” in response to protests.

Earlier in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support for Adams, praising his refusal to withdraw the team from sporting events despite protests.

For Karim, a protester who declined to give his last name, IPT’s presence at the Grand Prix represented “a major denial of democracy” as organizations had reached out to municipal and sports authorities to demand the team’s exclusion.

“As an immigrant here, I want to feel that I’m not complicit in the Canadian genocide that continues today in Palestine, and that my money isn’t going to finance genocide, because Canada arms Israel,” he said. “We want a boycott movement because we want peace.”

Julie Lambert said she joined the protest because she feels a deep sense of helplessness regarding the war in Gaza.

“This is the only thing we can do. It’s so horrific. How far is it going to go? Each time new limits are crossed, and being here is about showing solidarity with Palestine and with humanity,” she said.

Israel-Premier Tech’s team at the Vuelta includes Canadian rider Pier-André Côté. Other Canadian riders on the IPT roster include Michael Woods, Hugo Houle, Guillaume Boivin, Riley Pickrell and Derek Gee, who is currently in a contract dispute with the team. Former Canadian star Steve Bauer is the team’s sporting manager.

The team’s title sponsor, Premier Tech, is based in Rivière-du-Loup, Que.

Houle was the top Canadian on Sunday, finishing 44th.

— With files from Patrice Bergeron

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2025.

Coralie Laplante, The Canadian Press