{"id":119939,"date":"2025-09-04T18:23:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119939\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T18:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:23:07","slug":"israeli-backed-cycling-team-vuelta-at-odds-as-protestors-disrupt-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119939\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli-Backed Cycling Team, Vuelta at Odds as Protestors Disrupt Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRace organizers at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, the third and final Grand Tour on the cycling<\/a> calendar, said the Israel<\/a>-Premier Tech team should leave the race after pro-Palestinian protestors disrupted Wednesday\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n

\n\tProtests have followed the race since it started in August, largely focusing on one team, which is backed by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams. There is no direct connection between the team and the Israeli state, though Adams reportedly refers to himself as a \u201cself-appointed ambassador-at-large for Israel\u201d and is close with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

\n\tWednesday\u2019s Stage 11, scheduled to finish in the city of Bilbao, was halted about 3 kilometers early, and no winner was declared. Protestors near the finish line were moving the barriers<\/a> that protect riders in the finishing straight and organizers feared for their safety. Afterward, Vuelta technical director Kiko Garc\u00eda told Spanish radio network Cadena Ser<\/a> that he believes the team should, for the safety of the race, drop out.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe need to find a solution, [and] for me \u2026 there is only one right now: that the Israeli team itself realizes that being here doesn\u2019t make it any safer for everyone else,\u201d he said in Spanish. \u201cHowever, we can\u2019t make that decision; they have to make it themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe team responded shortly after, saying it would remain in the race.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAny other course of action sets a dangerous precedent in the sport of cycling not only for Israel-Premier Tech, but for all teams,\u201d the team said in a statement. \u201cIsrael-Premier Tech has repeatedly expressed its respect for everyones\u2019 [sic] right to protest, as long as those protests remain peaceful and do not compromise the safety of the [riders].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe statement added that the protestors\u2019 behavior in Bilbao was \u201ccounterproductive to their cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdams, who is worth $2.8 billion, according to Forbes, is an avid cyclist and in 2018 paid millions for the Giro d\u2019Italia to start in Israel. He was recently appointed<\/a> as the next president of the Israel region of the World Jewish Congress, and has spoken publicly about the war in Gaza, now in its 22nd month.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOn the physical war, we have done miracles with things that seem like science fiction,\u201d he told<\/a> Israeli media organization JNS at a charity event in Tel Aviv. \u201cBut on the communications war, we are failing miserably. It is getting worse and worse out there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPro-Palestinian protests have occurred at sporting events all over the world, but cycling has stood out. For one, it has a team that bears Israel\u2019s name, but the layout of the Grand Tour races provides a unique security challenge. Races take place over weeks, and hundreds of miles of countryside. At most points, spectators could freely walk in front of riders. Pro-Palestinian protests have been notably prominent<\/a> in Spain, particularly in the Basque Country, where the Vuelta is currently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tProtests occurred at both the Giro d\u2019Italia and the Tour de France<\/a>, the two other Grand Tours of the year, but none have been as prominent as those in Spain. During Stage 5 last week, protestors carrying a banner that read, in Spanish, \u201cNeutrality is Complicity. Boycott Israel\u201d, pulled it across the road in front of the Israel-Premier Tech squad during its team time trial, forcing some riders to stop completely. The team has had extra police protection during stages at the race.<\/p>\n

\n\tThursday\u2019s Stage 12 was held without disruption. <\/p>\n

\n\tWith assistance from Sebastian Milo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Race organizers at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, the third and final Grand Tour on the cycling calendar, said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,1258,82,636],"class_list":["post-119939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-israel","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}