Former hostage Ofer Calderon, right, riding on the Champs-Elysees in Paris at the end of the Tour de France, on July 27, 2025 (Noa Arnon)
Former hostage Ofer Calderon, a longtime cyclist, joined as a special guest of Israel-Premier Tech, the country’s professional cycling team, at the final stage of the 2025 Tour de France along the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Calderon was taken hostage on October 7 from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with two of his four children. His children were released during the November 2023 ceasefire, and he was released home more than a year later, in February 2025.
“I’m still in shock that I’m here on a bike at the Tour de France,” says Calderon. “I’ve never been to Paris, certainly not on a bicycle… I’m so emotional to be here with the team. But I’m also torn: this joy can’t be complete because, alongside all these emotions, it’s very hard to deal with what’s happening to me and to all the people of Israel — that we still have hostages in Gaza, our soldiers are there, and some are being killed. So nothing will be complete until they’re all back home. It’s time to end this story and bring everyone back.”
Calderon rode alongside philanthropist Sylvan Adams, the owner of Israel–Premier Tech, who held a global cycling event for Calderon on the 100th day of his captivity, riding with Erez Calderon, 12, at Tel Aviv’s velodrome. At the time, Adams said that when Ofer would be released, he would ride alongside him at the Tour de France.
Israel Premier-Tech is marking its sixth consecutive appearance at the Tour de France, and dedicated this year’s race to the hostages still held in Gaza, featuring their faces and name on the team vehicles.
“I’m an optimistic person by nature,” says Calderon. “That didn’t change in the 484 days I spent in Gaza. In that sense, I remained the same Ofer. Hope is what kept me going there. I believed I’d get out. I believed I’d ride again. And here I am, with that unique feeling every cyclist knows. I held onto that there. I didn’t give up. And now I’m here.”
Source: The Jerusalem Post
