Featured Stories

Guillaume Boivin Signs with Israeli Continental Team

by John Symon

November 06, 2015 (Montreal, Que.) – Canadian road champion, Guillaume Boivin (Optum KBS), has signed with Israeli-based Cycling Academy Team for a 2-year contract according to the team’s Facebook page. Pedal recently reported how the 26-year-old Montrealer, despite an impressive year on his bike, was pondering retirement in 2016 – read more here.

PanAm RR men's finish (l-r) Ubeto, Boivin, Marcotte  ©  Peter Kraiker

“Guillaume brings a degree of talent and a proven ability to perform at the highest levels,” explains Cycling Academy Team manager Ran Margaliot. “Signing him is an important step forward in our journey towards the world’s highest levels.”

“The experience of riding some of the great classics and grand tours is hard to quantify but how worthy,” Margaliot says. “After some hard luck with folding teams, he found himself riding mainly in America so he was delighted to get an offer from the Academy to be its leading sprinter.”

“I am really proud and honoured to take part of this great project,” Boivin said who expressed his desire to return to racing in Europe.

“He is a fast and successful sprinter with lots of experience despite his young age,” said the Academy’s Head-Sports Director Nicki Sorensen. “He will play an important role in boosting our team performance.”

Boivin wins the Elite Men's title  ©  Pasquale Stalteri

“Guillaume is a real talent with outstanding leadership qualities. He can be a rouleur, a breakaway rider, and also a sprinter/finisher, both to win races and to support teammates. He will be a great asset to Cycling Academy and will help develop and promote cycling in Israel as well. Bienvenue Guillaume. Kol Hakavod,” said Sylvan Adams, Canadian member of the Cycling Academy Team’s Board of Directors.

Apart from the Canadian road championship (he also won that title in 2009), Boivin, distinguished himself in 2015 by winning bronze in the men’s 165km road race at the Toronto Pan Am Games; Venezuela’s Miguel Ubeto Aponte claimed the gold while Eric Marcotte (USA) took home the silver. Boivin also won the Stage 3b Criterium at this year’s Tour de Beauce. He also thrilled fans at the Road Worlds in a late race break with Taylor Phinney (BMC) and two others that was caught with about 40km to go. Overall, 2015 has been a very good year for Boivin with assertive riding and some solid hardware for his efforts.

Canada's Boivin behind Phinney their break  ©  Peter Kraiker

Cycling Academy Team is a UCI Continental team founded in 2015 and based in Israel according to Wikipedia. It participates in UCI Continental Circuits races. The team was launched in November 2014 by a group that included Peter Sagan with the aim of developing young cyclists, especially from Israel. The team’s first ever victory came in the fourth stage of the 2015 Tour d’Azerbaïdjan, which was won by Daniel Turek. The Cycling Academy has announced its intention to become Israel’s first ever team to compete in a grand tour by 2018.

Boivin wins Pan Am bronze  ©  Peter Kraiker




Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.


Pedal Magazine