Barcelona calls for Israel-Premier Tech ban from 2026 Tour de France
Barcelona’s city council has demanded that Israel-Premier Tech be excluded from the 2026 Tour de France, which will begin with the Grand Départ in the Catalan capital on July 4.
“We want teams that compete under the Israeli flag, just as was done with Russia, to cease competition with this flag,” said David Escudé, Barcelona’s sports councillor, who stressed that the city was not seeking to cancel its hosting of the opening stages.
The call follows repeated pro-Palestinian demonstrations during the Vuelta a España, where Israel-Premier Tech’s participation prompted protests that led to the neutralisation of stages 11 and 21 and the shortening of stage 16. Similar resistance has already been voiced in the Canary Islands, which warned it would not host the final stages of La Vuelta if the Israeli squad were present.
Escudé urged international sporting bodies to adopt a broader stance, drawing comparisons with the bans imposed on Russian teams after the invasion of Ukraine. His view was echoed by Janet Sanz of the Barcelona en Comú party: “We cannot allow a team representing a genocidal state to parade through Barcelona. We demand their expulsion from next year’s Tour. Neither sport nor anything else in life is neutral; we cannot use sport to whitewash genocide.”
Barcelona’s demand comes as tension between Spain and the UCI continues to mount. Cycling’s governing body had criticised Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after the cancellation of the Vuelta’s final stage, describing his support for protestors as incompatible with “Olympic values” and questioning Spain’s capacity to host major international events.
Spain’s reply, delivered through the Consejo Superior de Deportes (the Spanish government’s autonomous agency for the promotion and development of sport), was sharp. It defended the right to protest as a constitutional guarantee and went further, framing it as a moral duty when human rights were at stake. Neutrality, the CSD argued, could not be invoked to shield atrocities: silence in the face of Gaza’s devastation amounted to complicity.
The response also carried a pointed reminder of Spain’s track record in organising global events, from Formula 1 and MotoGP to the upcoming 2030 FIFA World Cup. More strikingly, it highlighted what the UCI had omitted, accusing the governing body of double standards for moving swiftly to sanction Russia in 2022 while avoiding direct criticism of Israel.
While Barcelona officials have made their position clear, the ultimate decision rests with the UCI and Tour de France organisers ASO, who have not yet responded to the city's demands but it remains unlikely that Israel-Premier Tech will face any actions as the IOC have stated that "They [IPT] comply with the Olympic Charter" with them also exclaiming that Israeli and Palestinian atheles "Coexisted in peace" during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Yet with Barcelona pressing its case and Spain openly clashing with cycling’s hierarchy, the build-up to the 2026 Grand Départ looks set to unfold in the same atmosphere of protest and political confrontation that marked this year’s Vuelta.
