{"id":146237,"date":"2025-09-15T18:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/146237\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T18:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:21:08","slug":"uci-slams-madrid-vuelta-chaos-questions-spains-ability-to-host-major-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/146237\/","title":{"rendered":"UCI slams Madrid Vuelta chaos, questions Spain\u2019s ability to host major events"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)<\/a> has issued a scathing statement following the chaotic conclusion to the 2025 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, after the final stage in Madrid was abandoned due to large-scale pro-Palestinian protests.<\/p>\n

The UCI said it was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by the wave of demonstrations that disrupted the race almost daily since it entered Spain Some of the protests included people charging into the peloton, throwing urine at riders and causing several crashes that left riders injured and forced some to abandon.<\/p>\n

Race organizers were praised for responding \u201ccalmly and professionally\u201d to the incidents, taking emergency measures to keep the race running despite the turmoil. But the UCI called the repeated disruptions \u201ca serious violation of the Olympic Charter and the fundamental principles of sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Criticism of Spanish PM<\/p>\n

The governing body also directly criticized Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a> and his government for what it described as support for actions that impeded the competition and, in some cases, admiration for the demonstrators. The UCI said that stance runs counter to Olympic values of unity, respect and peace \u2014 and raises doubts about Spain\u2019s ability to guarantee safe conditions for future international sporting events.<\/p>\n

Israel \u2013 Premier Tech takes first Grand Tour GC classification win<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSport must remain autonomous to fulfil its role as a tool for peace,\u201d the statement read. \u201cIt is unacceptable and counterproductive for our sport to be diverted from its universal mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UCI reiterated its call for dialogue over conflict as it heads into its annual Congress next week. It will include representatives from the Palestinian, Israeli, Russian and Ukrainian federations.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t only the final stage of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a that was cancelled. The podium ceremonies for the winners of each classification were also cancelled. However, riders and teams got together and held an unofficial ceremony in a hotel parking lot so the winners could enjoy their moment of glory.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has issued a scathing statement following the chaotic conclusion to the 2025 Vuelta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[37377,49,48,635,8766,13191,1258,5900,82,15646],"class_list":["post-146237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2025-vuelta-a-espana","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-gaza","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-sports","tag-uci"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146237","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=146237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}