Michael Woods, former Olympic-calibre sprinter, is genuinely one of the stars of world cycling this year, a formidable hillclimber spoken of as a potential contender for overall winner of the Tour. Since there is a dearth of prominent American riders right now, he more or less gets to represent North America with resultant attention from race journalists and broadcasters. This year Woods is the race leader for a team called Israel Startup Nation. He's joined there by Quebec rider Guillaume Boivin, while Hugo Houle is a strongman for the Kazakhstan-based Astana team.
The name "Israel Startup" reflects the entry of middle-eastern rivalries into world cycling in recent years. There's a team called UAE Emirates and another called Bahrein Victorious -- bikes floated by oil money! -- so I guess Israel had to respond. All teams rely on a gloriously international cast of cyclists, but this year Israel's team does include the leading Israeli cyclist, Omar Goldstein. The Gulf states have no equivalent rider to offer.
Sadly cable networks and even SportsNet have abandoned grand tour coverage in recent years, and fans are delivered into the rapacious hands o fdigital service FloBikes. The commentary of William Fotheringham in the Guardian online is always good, and race highlights turn up daily at something called Steephill. Maybe here too, particularly if Rusty Woods steps up.
