{"id":134022,"date":"2025-09-10T15:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/134022\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T15:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:27:12","slug":"israel-premier-tech-rider-vuelta-organizers-deserve-a-yellow-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/134022\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel – Premier Tech rider: \u2018Vuelta organizers deserve a yellow card\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a has been overshadowed by widespread pro-Palestine demonstrations along its route for more than two weeks. It has forced organizers to shorten two stages and reshuffle race logistics. Belgian rider Tom Van Asbroeck, who competes for Israel-Premier Tech, did not participate in this year\u2019s race but has not shied away from commenting on the turmoil.<\/p>\n

Stage 11 was neutralized with 3 km to go, and Tuesday\u2019s race was shortened. The race finish skipped the final climb.<\/a><\/p>\n

Van Asbroeck, 35, told Het Nieuwsblad<\/a> that the situation has affected some riders more than others. \u201cI understand the unrest and respect peaceful protests,\u201d he said, \u201cbut targeting our team crosses a line. There\u2019s a misconception about us being state-sponsored. We are professional riders, paid to race, not involved in Gaza\u2019s conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Israel is in the team name, it is not a sponsor of the team. An Israeli-Canadian owns the team, Sylvan Adams. The team has since removed the word Israel from the kit, in hopes that it would help with the problems the team has faced.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s not in Spain, he said that things are getting out of hand. During the team time trial, his IPT team was going full flight when several protesters went on the road and unfurled banners. The riders had to come to a stop but it was quite dangerous\u2013luckily no one was hurt.<\/p>\n

The Belgian was particularly critical of how race organizers have handled the issue. In recent days, the Vuelta hinted that Israel-Premier Tech should consider leaving voluntarily, a suggestion Van Asbroeck described as \u201chypocritical.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told Het Nieuwsblad: \u201cThe organizer of the Vuelta deserves a yellow card for even implying our team should quit. It\u2019s like opening a floodgate. Where does it stop? What about teams from UAE or Bahrain, where human rights issues exist?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a has been overshadowed by widespread pro-Palestine demonstrations along its route for more than two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-134022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134022","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=134022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}