Ben Pawlowski
THE director of the Vuelta a España, Spain’s equivalent of the Tour de France, has reiterated his determination to finish the race in Madrid on Sunday – despite threats from pro-Palestinian protesters to sabotage the grand finale.
“We want to defend our sport, we want to defend our race, and that’s why we want to keep working,” said Javier Guillen, before adding: “No Plan B for reaching Madrid. No replacing the Madrid stage, absolutely not.”
This year’s edition of the Vuelta – one of cycling’s three prestigious Grand Tours – has become a lightning rod for criticism thanks to the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech team, an outfit owned by Sylvan Adams, an Israeli-Canadian billionaire businessman, close friend of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and outspoken supporter of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
Israel-Premier Tech have been the target of protests over the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas terrorists murdered over 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023.
According to figures from the territory’s health ministry, at least 63,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Strip since the beginning of the conflict.
Last month, protesters called for the team to be kicked out of the Tour de France.
In May, a protester carrying a banner reading ‘Israel out of the Giro d’Italia’ was charged with assault after almost causing a major crash when blocking cyclists during the sixth stage of Italy’s Grand Tour.
Several stages of this year’s Vuelta have likewise suffered disruptions, with a sea of Palestinian flags lining the route becoming the defining image of the race.
Stage 16 of the race, held on Tuesday, ended 8km before the scheduled finish at Castro de Herville because a large crowd waving Palestinian flags had blocked the road on the ascent to the line.
On stage 15, Javier Romo, from the Movistar team, was forced to pull out because of injuries picked up in a nasty crash.
The Spanish rider hit the tarmac after a man waving a Palestinian flag tried to run into the path of the cyclists and a policeman ran across in an attempt to intervene.
Previously, stage 11 ended without a winner after organisers ordered the day’s racing to end early due to protesters blocking the finish in Bilbao.
Police reported three arrests, several injuries among officers, and multiple protesters detained or identified.
During the stage 5 team time-trial, all eight riders from the Israel-Premier Tech team were forced to come to a halt after a group of protesters, displaying pro-Palestinian flags and banners, blocked the road early during the team’s race against the clock in Figueres, Catalunya.
The disruption proved costly for the team, who finished 54 seconds behind the winning UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad in 19th place.
Now, protesters are intent on disrupting Sunday’s grand finale, a 111.6km route from Alalpardo to Madrid which will decide who goes home with the famous red jersey.
Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard currently leads the way, 48 seconds ahead of Portuguese rider Joao Almeida in second place. The UK’s Tom Pidcock is third.
Last week, Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares urged race organisers to kick the Israel-Premier Tech team out of the Vuelta.
Albares told national broadcaster RNE last Thursday that he was ‘in favour’ of the team’s expulsion, though he stressed the final decision lies with cycling’s governing body, the UCI, not the Spanish government.
“I would be in favour of it,” he said. “We have to send a message to Israel and Israeli society that Europe and Israel can only have normal relations when human rights are respected.”
Israel-Premier Tech have rejected calls to withdraw, warning it would set a ‘dangerous precedent’ for the sport.
The team have also received the backing of Netanyahu in a statement on X, with the Israeli leader saying: “Great job to Sylvan and Israel’s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation. You make Israel proud.”
The furore over Israel-Premier Tech’s participation comes as Spain’s government ramps up the pressure on Israel over its military action in Gaza.
Speaking on Monday to announce nine measures designed to force Netanyahu to stop his brutal military campaign, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said he felt compelled to intervene to try to ‘stop a massacre’.
He said: “What PM Netanyahu presented in October 2023 as a military operation in response to the horrific terrorist attacks has ended up becoming a new wave of illegal occupations and an unjustifiable attack against the Palestinian civilian population – an attack that the UN special rapporteur and the majority of experts already describe as a genocide.”
“Protecting your country and your society is one thing, but bombing hospitals and killing innocent boys and girls with hunger is another thing entirely.
READ MORE: Spanish citizen among six dead after gunmen storm bus in Jerusalem
“That isn’t defending yourself, that’s not even attacking. It’s exterminating a defenceless people. It’s breaking all the rules of humanitarian law.”
Among the measures he announced ‘to stop the genocide in Gaza’ was a law formalising the current prohibition of military equipment sales or purchases with Israel, and a ban on the use of Spanish ports or airspace to transport fuel or weapons to Israel’s military.
“We know that all those measures won’t be enough to stop the invasion or the war crimes,” Sanchez added. “But we hope that they will serve to add to the pressure on PM Netanyahu and his government, to alleviate some of the suffering of the Palestinian population, and to let the Spanish know that their country was on the right side of history when it came to one of the most infamous episodes of the 21st century.”
Sanchez’s comments provoked ire from the Israeli government, who accused the socialist premier of ‘anti-semitism’ and ‘corruption’.
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced that youth minister Sira Rego and deputy prime minister Yolanda Diaz would be banned from entering Israel, the latter of whom Sa’ar accused of ‘exploiting PM Sanchez’s political weakness and dragging him, step by step, into implementing her anti-Israel and anti-Semitic vision’.
In response, the Spanish foreign ministry described the Israeli government’s words as ‘false and slanderous’, adding that it would not be ‘intimidated in its defence of peace, international law and human rights’.
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