Vuelta a España organisers shorten Valladolid time trial to 12.2 kilometres due to expected protests

The Vuelta a España organisers announced late on Wednesday that the stage 18 individual time trial in Valladolid will be shortened from 27.2 kilometres to just 12.2 kilometres.

The press release stated, “With the aim of ensuring greater protection for the stage, the organisers of La Vuelta, in coordination with Valladolid City Council and following consultation with the College of Commissaires, have decided that tomorrow’s time trial will be contested over a 12.2-kilometre route, with the start and finish remaining as originally planned.”

Valladolid has been bracing for more protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, and have already pledged to add 450 more police officers to secure the route.

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Similar protests have led to the finishes of stage 11 and stage 16 being shortened.

The demonstrators have been targeting the Israel-Premier Tech team in particular, with the squad’s effort in the stage 5 team time trial being briefly interrupted by protesters running onto the course, forcing most of the team to brake.

Two riders have suffered crashes as a result of protesters disrupting the peloton: on stage 11, Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty) fell when a group surged into the road, and on stage 15, Javier Romo (Movistar) fell under similar circumstances and later abandoned the race.

The peloton voted before stage 17 to neutralise the stage if protests materialised after being dissatisfied with a hasty decision to move the previous stage finish line to the 8km to go mark.

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“We decided that if there is an incident, we would try to neutralize the race and then that would be it because in the end racing to an undefined finish line is not really fair sport,” said Bahrain-Victorious rider Jack Haig.

“Unfortunately, we’re being caught in the middle of something that maybe doesn’t even really involve us and at the moment we are kind of just the pawns in a very large chess game that unfortunately is affecting us.”

He added that incidents such as a tree being felled across the course before the race arrived and other acts of sabotage have made riders feel uncomfortable.

“I think everyone would quite like to arrive in Madrid [for stage 21], but we need it to happen in a fair way where riders are safe,” he said.

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