Vuelta peloton votes to suspend stage 17 in the event of further protests

Riders at the Vuelta a España will neutralise stage 17 if there are further protests that cause disruptions along the route. The decision was taken in a poll by riders’ association the CPA on Wednesday following the demonstration that saw the finishing climb removed from stage 16.

There have been repeated human rights demonstrations on the Vuelta against the participation of Israel-Premier Tech amid Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza, and the race organisation has shortened two stages as a result of the protests.

Stage 11 was halted with 3km remaining due to a protest on the finishing straight in Bilbao, while stage 16 was stopped with 8km to go due to a demonstration on the finishing climb to Castro de Herville.

Earlier in stage 16, a tree was felled and laid down across the route, though it was cleared by the organisation before the race came through. Riders also indicated that thumbtacks been thrown onto the road along the route. 

In the wake of those incidents, the CPA held a poll, with a majority of the 23 teams voting to neutralise the stage in the event of further disruptive protests.

“There was a vote, and the vote was that we would like to continue racing, but we don’t believe that continuing racing the way that happened yesterday is the correct way,” Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) told reporters at the start of stage 17 in O Barco de Valdeorras.

“In the end, we take away the integrity of our sport by not knowing where the start line is and especially not knowing where the finish line is. We decided that if there is an incident, we would neutralise the race and that would be it. Because in the end, racing to an undefined finish line is not really fair sport.”

Haig confirmed that the poll applied only to Wednesday’s stage 17, and that neutralising the stage in the event of a protest would not signal the end of the Vuelta. “The vote was clearly just for today and I think it will be taken day by day. I think, collectively, everyone would really like to arrive to Madrid,” said Haig, who highlighted that riders had taken matters into their own hands amid silence from the sport's governing body.

“At the moment we’re pawns in a very large chess game that unfortunately is affecting us. In the end there’s free speech and I really respect that, but it’s a shame that it’s affecting us.

“The annoying thing is that there’s a lot of people hoping the powers above us and maybe the race organiser as well, would step in and make a decision, because it’s very difficult for us as the riders to try to decide. In the end it’s quite different to an extreme weather protocol, because now the situation is maybe over our heads.”

Red jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) confessed to Danish broadcaster TV2 that he did not agree with neutralising the stage, but he said that would abide by the consensus.

“I think I’m a bit on the other side. I would have like to ride the stage, but I also think that we as cyclists have been missing one thing for many years, and that is to stand together. So if the majority has said that this is what we do, then I’m on that bandwagon,” Vingegaard said.

“I can have my opinion that I would like to continue riding, but I think that [rider unity] is what we have been missing for many years in cycling, and therefore I will stand with the majority.”

Israel-Premier Tech's presence in the Vuelta has been the subject of repeated protests since the race arrived in Spain on stage 5. Demonstrators bearing Palestinian flags and a banner reading ‘Neutrality is Complicity. Boycott Israel” briefly blocked the Israel-Premier Tech squad during that day's team time trial in Figueres, and protestors also briefly blocked the break at the foot of the Angliru on stage 13.

Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty) crashed on stage 10 after protestors spilled into the road, while Javier Romo (Movistar) was a faller on stage 15 after a police officer ran across the road in response to a demonstrator. Romo abandoned the Vuelta due to his injuries on Tuesday.

Ahead of the stoppage in Bilbao last week, it emerged that multiple riders on the Vuelta had requested Israel-Premier Tech to withdraw from the race in the interests of the safety of the peloton. The call was echoed by Vuelta technical director Kiko García in Bilbao that afternoon and later by Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares.

Israel-Premier Tech, owned by Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams, later confirmed that they would stay in the Vuelta, and they received a message of support from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Since Saturday, the team’s riders have been racing in kit without the Israel-Premier Tech name as a safety precaution. 

In a press conference on Tuesday following the truncated end to stage 16, Vuelta director Javier Guillén insisted that the race would reach Madrid, despite the intensity of public feeling in Spain against the Israeli 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.

Meanwhile, Vuelta route designer Fernando Escartín has downplayed concerns that high winds might prevent the race from finishing atop the Alto de El Morredero on Tuesday afternoon. “For now, everything is still going to happen as normal regarding the finish," he told TVE.