Heightened security planned for Vuelta time trial amid ongoing protests

During the team time trial in Figueres in the opening week, a group of protestors bearing Palestinian flags and a banner reading “Neutrality is Complicity. Boycott Israel” attempted to block the road the road during Israel-Premier Tech’s effort.

Stage 11 of the Vuelta to Bilbao was neutralised with 3km to go due to a Palestinian solidarity demonstration in the finishing straight, while protestors spilling onto the road contributed to crashes on stages 10 and 15.

According to Spanish news agency EFE, some 450 law enforcement officers will be deployed along the 27.2km route of Thursday's time trial. There will be 300 uniformed and plain-clothed members of the national police and 150 Guardia Civil officers on the time trial, which has been deemed a “critical event” due to the risk of disruption from protests against Israel’s ongoing invasion of Palestine.

“We have indications that they are organising to carry out actions that go beyond placing flags along the route,” Jacinto Canales, deputy delegate of the local government in Valladolid, told EFE.

Canales described the time trial as a “critical event” due to the risk of demonstrators blocking the road. “The safety of participants in the race cannot be guaranteed 100%,” said Canales, who called for peaceful demonstrations. “There are ways to protest without disrupting the race and without putting participants at risk.”

Israel-Premier Tech’s presence at the Vuelta has become a lightning rod for protests against Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza. Over 64,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians, have been killed since Israel invaded Gaza almost two years ago in response to the October 7 terrorist attacks, which killed more than 700 people.

Last week, Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares expressed support for Israel-Premier Tech’s removal from the Vuelta, telling public-service broadcaster RNE, “We have to send a message to Israel, to Israeli society.”

Team owner Sylvan Adams has rejected the idea of withdrawing his team from the Vuelta, though Israel-Premier Tech have since opted to remove their team name from their kit for the remainder of the race. The team received a public message of support from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Sunday evening, Vuelta leader Jonas Vingegaard said that he could understand why pro-Palestine demonstrations were taking place along the route of the Vuelta.

“To be honest, I think we all feel with what’s happening there, and I think all the people who are demonstrating, they are just searching for a way to get to the news,” Vingegaard said.

“I think they think it doesn’t get enough attention and they’re really desperate and that’s why they do it here, I guess. Of course it’s, unfortunate that it has to happen here in the Vuelta. But I think they are desperate, and they want to have more attention.”

After Monday’s rest day, the Vuelta resumes on Tuesday with stage 16 to Mos.