After a really successful season for Israel Cycling Academy, where they have seen three of their Conti riders move up to the Israel Premier Tech WorldTour team, the focus on promoting young talents, specifically those from Israel and Canada, will continue.
A prime candidate to be the first Israeli promoted to the WorldTour squad since the holding company began running two teams is Oded Kogut.
A third-year U23, Oded took a brace of wins at the Dookola Mazowsza stage race in Poland, which was all the more impressive when you consider he didn’t start the race as the team’s sprint leader. I interviewed Oded recently, and you can read on to get to know him better.
“Actually, my season hasn’t started in a really good way, I’ve been sick twice before races and pulled out or had to abandon the race like in Tour de Normandie. I’ve lost a lot of chances to prove myself and know that when I get my shot it has to be on target.”
Identifying as a sprinter, Oded says he works a lot on his climbing, in order to be as fresh for the sprints as possible, as well as not possessing a bad TT either.
“Of course, as a sprinter, my climbing skills are not like a sub 60kg rider, but I know that it’s important also for sprinters to climb well and pass the climbs on the way to the finish line as fresh as possible and it’s a skill that we work on regularly. I think that my TT skills are also not bad. Last year I won the U23 Israel championship and this year I decided to try win the Elite category. I finished second by 8 seconds and one of my goals for next year is to win it.”
Speaking about his pair of Polish wins, Kogut spoke of being thrust into the leadership role after an issue for the main sprinter, before great teamwork led him to consecutive stage wins, with one being a lot closer than the other. Regardless, he is hungry to feel that winning emotion again.
“We arrived at the race as a national team to work for Itamar Einhorn, our WorldTour sprinter. Itamar crashed on the first stage and I got the lead. I knew that this was my opportunity to bring a result and luckily I was surrounded by great teammates, who did a great job protecting me all the way and leading me into a great position to the sprint on both stages that we won. On the first sprint, it was a photo finish but on the second one I was more confident and less stressed and the gap was way bigger. It was absolutely fun and made me hungrier to win more.”
Whilst he couldn’t defend his U23 RR title in Israel from 2021, Oded and I still talked about the 2021 win, as well as racing in the jersey of national champion up until the early summer of this year.
“It was amazing to win the championship in a 25kms solo and wear the jersey for a year. It was very meaningful for me to represent our country with its complexity, and to be like an ambassador explaining the conflict. I really believe that sport can connect people, and maybe even bring peace as we wish.”
As far as I know, Oded received a surprise call-up to the Deutschland Tour with the WorldTour team, and rode well. That’s a great indication about how highly the pro team thinks of him. He has more races with them later in the year, but for now, it’s back to the U23 scene.
“My next race is Flanders Tomorrow Tour in Belgium and my focus now is on winning there. Last year I was close (5th place in the sprint on the last stage in 2021, 2nd place in the last stage of this year’s race, ed.) and I’m sure I’m able to do it. Later this year, hopefully I’ll do some races with the WorldTour team and I really want to prove I belong there.”
Finally, we talked about Oded’s dream pro win. Of course, like many riders, it is to win a stage at the world’s biggest bike race.
“My dream and goal is to win a Tour de France stage. The Tour of course is the biggest road cycling event and I want to win there.”
Oded Kogut possesses real speed, and I’m excited to see how he progresses in 2023. I’m pretty sure he will earn a move to the pro team at some point, as long as he keeps progressing, and he would be a really nice asset in the current era of cycling where chasing points with multiple sprinters is necessary. Keep an eye on him as this year ends and 2023 begins.
U23 Cycling Zone wishes to thank Oded for taking the time to answer my questions, and I wish him all the best for the rest of the season and beyond. I also wish to thank Sjors Beukeboom at Israel Premier Tech for coordinating the interview. You can find Oded on Instagram here.
U23 Cycling Zone 