The Israel Cycling Academy have added Awet Gebremedhin to the team's 2018 roster. The 25-year-old Eritrean, who holds a Swedish racing license, replaces Ahmet Orken on the roster after the Turkish time trial champion quit the team amid rising Middle East tension.
Gebremedhin's two-year deal is the culmination of a long journey from his homeland in East Africa that included "hiding out" for 18 months in Sweden before he was granted legal refugee status in 2015.
"I still cannot believe it," Gebremedhin said in a statement released by the team. "I waited for this opportunity almost all my life, and there were moments of darkness and despair when I almost lost any hope that this miracle could actually happen. But now, everything that I had to go through, it all seems worth it."
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Gebremedhin will be the team's first East African rider as the Israeli squad lobby for their Grand Tour debut at the historic Giro d'Italia start in Jerusalem in May. Initially slated for the team's development squad, Gebremedhin jumped up to the Pro Continental team when Orken left after citing pressure on himself and his family in Turkey.
Gebremedhin's 13-year journey to professional cycling started when he was an 11-year-old working on his father's rural chicken farm and riding to school every day.
"It was 15 kilometers to school when I moved from grammar school," Gebremedhin said. "So [my dad] decided it was worth it to invest his very little money in buying me a used bike so I could get back quickly and work in the farm."
Seeking sanctuary in Sweden
Racing professionally
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