Israel Start-Up Nation have today announced that they will continue aboard Factor Bikes until the end of the 2022 season.
The one-year extension to the partnership comes with five months left of the original two-year deal, which was signed ahead of the 2020 season and saw the team switch away from De Rosa bikes.
It will also mean the continued use of Black Inc components, a subsidiary of the Factor Bikes brand, and the team have also announced a continuation of their partnership with Danish drivetrain specialists, CeramicSpeed.
According to the team, the two parties have worked closely together, collaborating to create Factor's new Ostro Vam race bike, as well as Black Inc's Twenty and Forty-Five wheels, while a new Factor time trial bike is on the way too.
"In the last two years, the team’s feedback has been a really important and valued part of our development process," explained Factor Bikes CEO, Rob Gitelis.
"Alongside Black Inc and CeramicSpeed, we have a strong partnership in place and we look forward to building on this with new product launches and future racing success.”
The original deal also came as the team made the jump from Pro Continental to WorldTour level. In the two years since, the team have grown into their new status and are now home to talents such as Alex Dowsett, Andre Greipel, Dan Martin and Mike Woods, not to mention the high profile signing of Chris Froome from Team Ineos.
However, it's not all been plain sailing. At the start of the 2021 season, the team were forced to temporarily abandon the use of the Ostro Vam after Tom Van Asbroek was forced to switch to his spare bike at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, after his steerer tube snapped in two.
Despite this, the team's co-owner, Sylvan Adams maintains that his riders are happy with their equipment. "Many of them have told me that it is the best bike they’ve ridden, and that it actually makes them faster," he explained.
"Factor’s gifted super engineer Graham Shrive has produced a new TT bike which we first tried at the Giro," he added, in the first public confirmation of our assumptions that the unbranded time trial bike used at the Giro d'Italia is indeed a Factor bike.
