While the world is aware of the news of the widespread attack on Israel by Hamas over the weekend, riders on the Israeli Premier Tech team are trying to handle the horrific event while focusing on the race.

News of a coordinated attack from a Palestinian resistance/terrorist group that killed at least 1,000 people and injured more than 2,800 cast a shadow over a stunning victory by American Riley Sheahan in Paris. In the tragedy, the team "largely suspended" their social media activity. On Tuesday, the team shared a reaction from the riders.

Nadav Raisberg, who is scheduled to graduate from the Israeli Premier Technical Development team to the WorldTour team next year, was on the roster of Paris・Tours and knew more about the event than the day before the race.

"The first thought was that I can't race," Raisberg said. "Thinking about how bike racing when I'm receiving a message about a friend fighting there to put an end to this unspeakable massacre

"Finally, we clinched the victory with a remarkable Riley Sheehan and my teammates were rightfully delighted, it was a phenomenal achievement. But I could not participate; I could not celebrate with them.

Israeli national champion Itamar Einhorn was on a tour of Hainan when he learned of the event being unfolding. He sprinted to 2nd place in the final stage, and his teammate Sebastian Berwick was 2nd overall to Oscar Sevilla, but Einhorn was also tormented by the news and could not celebrate.

"I've never felt this way before," Einhorn said. "Of course, I wanted to win. But I did not feel anything. There was no stab wound to missing the win, nor a trace of satisfaction from the 2nd finish. Knowing that while I was racing thousands of kilometers away, my hometown was caught up in horrific horrors and acts of slaughter, I had a sense of utter trifle.

"You're in the race. You are supposed to disconnect from everything, but how is it possible' It is a storm of emotions that you do not want, nor can you escape.You are a storm of emotions that you do not want you to. I'm shattered, but the images from one of the videos that turned my stomach continue to haunt me: two children whose parents were killed in front of them, and the terrorists leave a red stain on the wall declaring "We are not killing children" – while in other houses they are running tied children.

"And I keep riding, and tears overwhelm me. I wonder how this can happen and how much evil and barbarism can become an act of man. Then I shake myself and go back to the race when the Peloton returns to full gas. Until the next moment when things settle down a bit, and I'm caught again in these horrible images."

Going home and riding for the EF-Education-TIBCO team with another team member, Guy Sagiv, his partner Omer Shapira, was at her family's home in Ein HaBesor, near the Gaza border, but spent the weekend elsewhere

." I started training on the morning of the day," Sagib recalled. According to the team's press release, the inhabitants of Ein HaBesor were invaded by the perpetrators, but managed to dodge them. "We were told about many pairs of bikes found on the surrounding roads; the fate of their riders is still unknown. We know that miracles have saved us, but I can't stop thinking about riders like us who went out for morning training, who were just killed in cold blood and slaughtered mercilessly by hundreds of children and young individuals. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a nightmarish dream, hoping someone will wake me up from it.

Itai Cohen, a 15-year-old member of a cycling club in West Negev, was among those ambushed by Hamas fighters during training. He suffered cuts from shrapnel and had to undergo surgery on his eyes.

Since the weekend, Israel has retaliated with airstrikes, killing 765 people in Gaza and injuring 4,000, and closing the border with Egypt. The Israeli Defense Minister promised a siege of the Gaza strip - shutting down sources of electricity, food and fuel to the region with 2 million inhabitants, and the act declared by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was a violation of international law.