NSN Cycling Team
NSN Cycling Team is a UCI ProTeam registered in Switzerland and managed by Kjell Carlström. Founded in 2015, the organisation raced for several seasons as Israel Premier Tech and held WorldTour status from 2020 to 2022 before returning to the ProTeam level. The Israel branded identity also brought challenges, with growing political sensitivity and reputational debate after Israel's invasion of Gaza. Now rebranded as NSN Cycling Team, the project continues with a mix of experience and emerging talent, targeting major WorldTour starts via wildcard invitations. Key riders include Biniam Girmay, Stephen Williams and Jake Stewart.
Full official team name and common short name
NSN Cycling Team; commonly “NSN” which is also the UCI identifier.
Team category and status
UCI WorldTeam in 2026 with automatic entry to all WorldTour events, including the three Grand Tours and five Monuments.
Primary disciplines
Men’s elite road racing across Grand Tours, one‑week stage races, and one‑day classics, with emphasis on sprints, puncheur finishes, and stage hunting.
Country of registration and base location
Swiss-registered WorldTeam, with a headquarters in Barcelona.
Founding year and origin story
Rebranded for 2026 from Israel-Premier Tech, the team builds on an established WorldTour structure that has carried the licence from Cycling Academy Team (2015–2016) to Israel Cycling Academy (2017–2019), Israel Start Up Nation (2020–2021), Israel-Premier Tech (2022–2025) and now NSN Cycling Team (2026 onward), pairing a refreshed identity with an upgraded performance setup and equipment platform.
Current title sponsor and key partners
Backed by owner NSN, short for Never Say Never, a sport and entertainment company based near Barcelona, the team rides Scott bikes with SRAM Red AXS groupsets, Zipp wheels, Continental tyres and Selle Italia saddles, running a fully integrated, tubeless first race setup with course specific pressure targets and insert strategies.
More about NSN, you can find here.
Key achievements
Across the licence history of NSN and its predecessors, the standout results have come on cycling’s biggest stages. At the Tour de France, the team took stage wins with Simon Clarke (2022), Hugo Houle (2022) and Michael Woods (2023). In the Vuelta a España, Woods added another major WorldTour strike by winning stage 13 in 2024, while Alex Dowsett claimed a Giro d’Italia stage in 2020 and Dan Martin won stages in both the Vuelta (2020) and the Giro (2021).
In the classics, the calling card is Stephen Williams’ victory at La Flèche Wallonne in 2024.
Notable riders
NSN’s 2026 squad blends proven WorldTour engines with punchy finishers and climbers. Biniam Girmay is the standout for hard northern days and reduced bunch sprints, with Ethan Vernon, Itamar Einhorn and Corbin Strong covering sprint opportunities and selective finales, supported by Hugo Hofstetter for positioning and lead-outs.
Alexey Lutsenko gives the team a proven option for hilly one day races and one week stage races, while Stephen Williams adds punch on rolling terrain. In the mountains, George Bennett anchors the climbing group, with Nick Schultz offering depth for GC support and opportunist moves.
Krists Neilands brings breakaway bite, Dion Smith adds all-round reliability, and the classics unit is bolstered by Floris Van Tricht and Guillaume Boivin. Emerging names such as Alessandro Pinarello, Pau Martí and Riley Sheehan provide genuine upside as the squad targets stage wins, GC chances and results across WorldTour terrain.
Key staff (2026)
NSN Cycling is led by general manager Kjell Carlström, with Steve Bauer overseeing the sporting side.
The sports director group is deep and experienced, including Alexander Cataford, Dimitri Claeys, Tim Elverson, René Andrle, Eric Van Lancker, Rubén Plaza, Sam Bewley and Oscar Guerrero Celaya, with additional support from staff such as Francesco Frassi, Aviad Izrael, Rene Mandri, Jonathan Patrick McCarty and Dror Pekatch.
On the development side, Lahav Davidzon helps connect the academy pathway to the WorldTour programme.
Key alumni
NSN Cycling’s alumni reflect the team’s Israel-based heritage and its evolution into a WorldTour mainstay. High‑profile names like Chris Froome brought Tour‑winning prestige in the later phase of his career, while Dan Martin and Michael Woods delivered marquee Grand Tour stage wins and Ardennes podiums.
André Greipel signed off with his final victories in, Alex Dowsett set national time‑trial standards and added a Giro stage, and Daryl Impey and Giacomo Nizzolo contributed WorldTour wins and leadership experience. Classics stalwart Sep Vanmarcke anchored northern campaigns before retiring, as Ben Hermans and Patrick Bevin stacked stage‑race victories and time‑trial titles.