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With about 15 kilometers remaining for the stage leaders, organizers announced that the day’s race would end three kilometers short due to the protests.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
An Israeli cycling team refused Wednesday a hint by organizers to leave a prestigious race in Spain due to pro-Palestinian protests on the route, saying it would set a “dangerous precedent” for the future.
The Israeli Premier Tech team, competing in the Vuelta a España, issued a statement saying, “The team remains committed to continuing to compete in the Valletta. Any other course of action sets a dangerous precedent in cycling, not only for Israel Premier Tech, but for all teams.”
Earlier in the day, Kika Garcia, the director of the three-week race — the third and final Grand Tour of the men’s road cycling season — told a local radio station that he had asked the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of the sport, to have the Israelis withdraw.
“This was the most complicated day of the race. If no changes are made, the protests will continue,” he said.
“Right now, the participation of Israelis is mandatory and we need to protect everyone. We have informed the UCI of our opinion. I hope things will change.”
The 11th stage of race in and around Bilbao, Spain, was first delayed for 19 minutes when demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and carrying anti-Israel signs blocked the road.
Pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the Tour of Spain cycling race to protest the presence of the team from the occupying entity.
A veritable human tide forced the organizers to stop the stage of the Tour 3 kilometers before the finish line.
The directive from the protesters was… pic.twitter.com/YB3wcypmJY
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) September 4, 2025
Bilbao is known as a center of anti-Israel activism in a country often described as one of the most pro-Palestinian in Europe, with Spain’s government regularly condemning Israel during its war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
With about 15 kilometers remaining for the stage leaders, organizers announced that the day’s race would end three kilometers short, with no stage winner declared, because they feared protests at the finish line would endanger riders.
It was the first time in the 80-year history of the competition that a stage was cut short.
Tom Pidcock, one of two riders who reached the improvised stopping point first and one of the overall leaders in the demanding race that runs through Italy, France, Andorra and Spain, said he understood that riders’ safety came first.
Still, “it was hard to describe the disappointment” of having to end early, he said, because he thought he had a good chance winning the stage.
“But risking our lives is unacceptable. Protesting at the expense of our safety does not advance anyone’s cause,” he noted.
Similar demonstrations have disrupted several stages of the race.
Men and women entered the road in front of the Israelis during the Stage 5 team time trial, and ran onto the course in Stage 10 as the peloton was passing by, despite police efforts to stop them.
This forced several riders to slow down or swerve out of the way, and one, Simone Petilli crashed as a result.
Although he suffered only a minor injury, Petilli implored the anti-Israel demonstrators not to endanger the racers in a post he wrote on X Wednesday morning.
“I understand that is not a good situation, but yesterday I crashed because of a protest on the road,” he wrote. “Please, we are just cyclists and we are doing our job, but if it will continue like this our safety is not guaranteed anymore, and we feel in danger! We just want to race! Please.”
The UCI condemned the protests, saying the right to demonstrate cannot come “at the expense of the safety of the athletes.”
Echoing Petelli, the body said that the racers “are not involved in political matters and are just doing their job.”
The Israeli team thanked the “race organizers and the UCI for their continued support and cooperation, as well as the teams and riders who expressed their support publicly and privately, and of course, our fans.”
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