Riders at the Vuelta a España have voted to keep racing but did not rule out abandoning the Grand Tour if pro-Palestinian protests continue to disrupt the competition.
Wednesday’s 17th stage, won by Italy’s Giulio Pellizzari, ended without any major incident after authorities limited the number of people who could reach the summit finish. A couple of Palestinian flags were seen but no one tried to disrupt the race.
Riders had decided to keep going but will reconvene if another protest jeopardises their safety in the final days of the three-week race that is scheduled to end on Sunday in Madrid.
The international riders’ association (CPA) said the vote had been requested by the riders and it involved representatives of the 23 teams racing in the Vuelta this year. The majority decided to keep competing, and those who voted against had accepted the decision. It did not give any details.
After a group of protesters holding Palestinian flags stopped the Israel-Premier Tech team in the stage five team time trial, more stages have ended before the scheduled finish due to protests.
Tuesday’s stage 16 ended eight kilometres before the scheduled finish at Castro de Herville after a large group of protesters, waving Palestinian flags, blocked the road on the ascent to the line.
“The riders voted by a majority to stop in case of a new problem. They will then decide whether to continue or to end the event,” the CPA’s vice-president, Pascal Chanteur, said.
The Bahrain Victorious rider Jack Haig said: “Unfortunately, we’re being caught in the middle of something that maybe doesn’t really involve us. We are just the pawns in a very large chess game that unfortunately is affecting us.”
Spanish authorities said they would deploy an additional 1,500 police officers over the weekend, adding they sought to balance safety at the event with citizens’ right to protest. The interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, expressed confidence in achieving such a balance.
“All I ask is that the exercise of this absolutely legitimate and, I would say, currently necessary right to protest does not disrupt security,” he said.
According to the ministry, it will be the largest public security deployment in Madrid since the Nato summit was held in the Spanish capital in 2022.
Pellizzari powered away from a small group of riders in the final kilometres on the climb to the finish to win stage 17, with Jonas Vingegaard increasing his overall lead by two seconds.
The Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe rider Pellizzari attacked with 3.5km left of the 143.2km ride from O Barco de Valdeorras summit finish at the category one climb Alto de El Morredero and came in 16 seconds ahead of Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) with Australian Jai Hindley in third.
Vingegaard was next over the line, two seconds ahead of his closest general classification rival João Almeida, and the Dane holds a 50-second lead, with Pidcock almost two and a half minutes down on the red jersey in third.