Riders of the Israel Premier Tech team compete as people holding Palestinian flags try to disrupt the eleventh stage of the Spanish Vuelta cycling race, from Bilbao to Bilbao. AP
Various stages of the Vuelta were hit by protests against the private outfit's participation with around 100,000 protestors in Madrid engulfing the final day of the race, one of the sport's three big Tours.
Co-sponsors the Canadian multi-national Premier Tech released a statement calling for change.
"We are sensitive and attentive to the situation on the international scene which has evolved considerably since our arrival on the World Tour in 2017," Premier Tech said.
"Our expectation is that the team will evolve to a new name excluding the term Israel, and that it will adopt a new identity and a new brand image."
The company that provides equipment, Factor, said they have also asked for change.
"I've already told the team that without a name change, without a change of flag, we will not continue," the founder of Factor, the team's equipment supplier, told Cycling News, who met with the team's owner, Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, on the subject.
These requests have so far gone unheeded by IPT.
"We are in the planning phase for the brand in 2026, and we will communicate any potential changes in due course," the team responded in a statement Thursday.
The final stage of the Vuelta a Espana was abandoned while organisers had to scramble to shorten or even neutralise other stages.
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