{"id":147940,"date":"2025-09-16T18:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/147940\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T18:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T18:02:08","slug":"cycling-governing-body-calls-into-question-spains-ability-to-host-major-international-sporting-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/147940\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling governing body calls into question &#8220;Spain&#8217;s ability to host major international sporting events&#8221; &#8211;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The protests during the cycling race La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a against Israel have had political repercusions. The world governing body of the sport, International Cycling Union (UCI under its French initials) has sent a harsh <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uci.org\/pressrelease\/uci-statement-concerning-la-vuelta-ciclista-a-espana-2025\/sg0nB3573AbWtW5P8JVAw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">statement<\/a> condemning not only the protests that caused the final <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamereactor.eu\/pro-palestine-protesters-invade-madrids-streets-and-stop-la-vuelta-a-espana-1601673\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stage to be abandoned<\/a> 60 km before the finish line when thousands of people invaded the streets, but the Spanish government, which has &#8220;supported actions that could hinder the smooth running of a sporting competition and, in some cases, expressed their admiration for the demonstrators&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>UCI clains this position is &#8220;contradictory to the Olympic values of unity, mutual respect, and peace&#8221; and even &#8220;calls into question Spain&#8217;s ability to host major international sporting events, ensuring that they take place in safe conditions and in accordance with the principles of the Olympic Charter&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the annual Vuelta, next year&#8217;s Tour de France will depart from Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sport must remain autonomous to fulfil its role as a tool for peace&#8221;, says UCI<\/p>\n<p>The statement continues: &#8220;The UCI strongly condemns the exploitation of sport for political purposes in general, and especially coming from a government. Sport must remain autonomous to fulfil its role as a tool for peace. It is unacceptable and counterproductive for our sport to be diverted from its universal mission. Moreover, there are dedicated platforms where countries can discuss their differences.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>UCI&#8217;s message does not mention at any point that the protests were using the sport&#8217;s visibility as a tool to ask for peace in Gaza, after Israel has already murdered 65,000 civilians and on Tuesday launched a ground offensive against Gaza City.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the wave of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamereactor.eu\/spain-urges-for-the-exclusion-of-israel-and-russia-from-international-sports-competitions-1601993\/\" title=\"Spain urges for the exclusion of Israel and Russia from international sports competitions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">condemnation against Israel from Spanish government<\/a> has also reached other areas, like the official announcement from the Spanish public television that they will not go to Eurovision Song Contest if Israel also participates.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"img-1602723-4671393\" data-fullsize=\"\/media\/13\/cyclinggoverningbody_4671393b.jpg\" data-lazy=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gamereactor.euhttps:\/\/www.gamereactor.eu\/media\/13\/cyclinggoverningbody_4671393_650x.jpg\" width=\"650\" onclick=\"if (!window.__cfRLUnblockHandlers) return false; gallery_openmodal('1602723','4671393',false,'186c9b923fc7eb4df8e7b4cfbeb234b7');\" height=\"433\" alt=\"Cycling governing body calls into question &quot;Spain's ability to host major international sporting events&quot;\" class=\"rwd_col_content lazy\" data-cf-modified-d1222c920af0d99c95f5da89-=\"\"\/>OSCAR GONZALEZ FUENTES \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The protests during the cycling race La Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a against Israel have had political repercusions. The world&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-147940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}