Italian Pro Tour rider Kristian Sbaragli joins Israel Cycling Academy in its Grand tour quest
“Its my turn to win” said the Italian
October 5th. Tel - Aviv.
Italian pro tour Rider Kristian Sbaragli has signed a 2 year contract with Israel Cycling Academy and is expected by his new team to significantly strengthen its grand tour aspirations.
Sbaragli (27) will be joining the first Israeli pro team with a clear goal to be a big part of its “ new face” starting next season, a team built to be competitive in some of the world’s truest races and especially a grand tour. The team already declared openly that it will apply for a wild card invitation from the Giro D’italia and expressed full confidence in being granted the opportunity to be part of the historic Giro who will start in Jerusalem next May.
“We are turning up the notch big time” said team owner Ron Baron, “ And we certainly aim to be there in Jerusalem at the “BIG START” of the historic Giro. Yet, we made it clear that we expect to be selected on merits - as a strong team that can win stages. That’s why we have signed a series of top quality riders who already won stages in grand tours and Sbaragli is a great example. And he is not the only one , nor the last”…
The team announced a series of new signing in the weeks leading to the Giro d’italia announcement of its BIG START of 3 stages in Israel next year, including names like Ben Hermans, Ruben Plaza and Norwegians Sondre Holst Enger and August Jensen.
Indeed Sbaragli , a Sprinter that spent the last 5 years in Team Dimension Data and is coming to the Pro continental Israeli team with Grand tour experience and a stage win the Vuelta Espagna ( 2015 ) has echoed his new team management aspirations with his own: “ I decided to sign with ICA because I think its the right time in my career to try and step up and start winning on regular basis. In the past years I have finished many races in top 10 but won only a few. I am confident that I can change that. ICA wants to do the same thing really, so for me it’s a great opportunity to shine under the Israel Cycling Academy flag”.
ICA team Manager Ran Margaliot was even more bold when he explained the motives behind Sbaragli’s signing: “ We liked Kristian because he is exactly the rider we need to balance our strong new roster. He is a sprinter that can handle climbs very well and be a factor in the selective sprints that follows long and hilly stages. He can aim for wins in classics and in races like Milan san Remo where we really hope to get selected to next season. But much beyond that, we went for Sbaragli because we believe the best is yet to come for him. He worked for other riders , especially being part of Mark Cavendish “train”. We intend to give him a chance to win, to be the main man in certain races and we believe he will show why we trusted him to deliver”.
Born in Tuscany, Sbaragli started biking since being a 7 years old. “ Nobody in my family was a cyclist but My grandfather and thanks to him I started riding. It started for me as fun as slowly it became a more serious affair”. In 2013 he turned pro with Team MTN Qhubeca ( Later turned to Dimension data ) and stayed with the same team since.
Israel Cycling Academy was founded in December 2014 in Jerusalem, as Israel’s first Professional cycling team, with a clear vision to help Israeli Cycling and bring young cyclists, especially Israelis, to the top levels of cycling. This year (2017) was it’s first as a Pro Continental.
Kristian Sbaragli Career Highlights:
Turned pro in 2013
2013: Team Mtn Qhubeka
Stage Korea ; TTT Korea ;
2014: Team Mtn Qhubeka
2nd GP Prato ; x2 3th stage tour of Turkey
2015: Team Mtn Qhubeka
1st stage Vuelta a Espagna ; 2nd stage Denmark ; 4th memorial Pantani
2016: Team Dimension Data
3rd stage Slovenia ; x2 4th stage Vuelta a Espana.
2017: Team Dimension Data :
2nd stage Oman ; 3th stage Catalunya ;
X2 5th stage Giro D'Italia
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