CAPEL Dewi’s Stevie Williams is set to stay at Israel – Premier Tech having signed a new deal which will see the Welshman with the team until 2028, joining Derek Gee as the team’s longest contracted rider to date.
From being left without a contract at the end of 2022 and given a lifeline with IPT for the 2023 season to repaying the opportunity given by winning the Tour Down Under and La Flèche Wallonne this year, scoring IPT’s first ever WorldTour stage race and one day race victory respectively, Williams has proved he is well and truly at home.
Now, in the middle of his most successful season to date, Williams didn’t hesitate when it came to deciding on his future: “I feel like I have found my place on a team where I can get the best out of myself on the bike.
“As we have seen with the way I have been racing, especially from last year’s Giro d’Italia onwards, I’ve taken a real step up.
“It has been rewarded with some nice results and even though I am fairly new on the team, it feels like I have been here for 10 years not one year.
“I’m 28 years old now and the next four years are probably in that window when I become my best and keep improving, so to have this offer from the team gave me huge confidence and I didn’t hesitate to extend with IPT.
“I am so happy in the team, and I see the way I have stepped up in just one year here so I can’t wait for the next four.”
Williams is currently making his debut at the Tour de France and will make his Olympic debut next month in Paris, a testament to how far he has come in the last few years says General Manager Kjell Carlström.
“It has been a real pleasure to watch the way Stevie has developed with us over the past year and a half,” explains Carlström.
“He faced a lot of adversity in the early years of his career and now, he has finally reached a point where he is able to realize his potential.
“I think a lot of that has come from finding the right environment and culture with us at Israel – Premier Tech. Stevie has delivered his best career results with us, results that have also contributed to the team’s history. He is an amazing bike rider and I think the best is yet to come.”
Prior to the 28-year-old’s breakthrough year in 2024, Williams overcame a lingering knee injury to claim his first WorldTour win at the Tour de Suisse in 2022, before kickstarting his winning ways with IPT with a stage and the General Classification at the 2023 Arctic Race of Norway.
IPT owner Sylvan Adams admits that extending a lifeline to Williams at the end of 2022 was one of the best decisions the team has made.
“A couple of years ago, we kind of saved Stevie’s career, or at the very least, a year of his career, when we signed him at the last minute, together with his teammate, Nick Schultz, following the folded B&B Hotels team debacle,” Adams explains.
“Stevie immediately showed us that he is a talented rider, and we have now renewed his contract for the second time. Stevie is a winner, an instinctive rider who understands bike racing. His big wins this year have elevated our team.
“Stevie is part of Israel – Premier Tech’s DNA, and well loved by his teammates.
“I’m so proud of how he’s flourished because we gave him opportunities that he didn’t get earlier in his career, and of course, our full team support.
“Stevie will be representing Great Britain at the Olympics in Paris, which is additional validation of his remarkable success.
“I also hope to see him do something special at the Tour in the next two weeks. Congratulations, Stevie, you’ve earned all of this. Much more to come.”