The focus of the protests has been the presence of the Israel-Premier Tech team at the Vuelta, with the demonstrators opposed to Israel over its ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas.<\/p>\n
The first disruption came during stage five\u2019s team time trial when the Israel-Premier Tech team were stopped on the road by protesters holding Palestinian flags.<\/p>\n
Since then, riders have crashed because of protesters\u2019 actions and, while Israel-Premier Tech removed their name from the riders\u2019 jerseys on Saturday, Tuesday\u2019s events show that this has had no effect on the protesters.<\/p>\n
Los manifestantes propalestinos tratan de cortar la carretera en el alto de San Cosme antes del paso de La Vuelta. La Polic\u00eda Nacional trata de dispersar la protesta antes de que lleguen los corredores pic.twitter.com\/ZVdZKEZTLL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Faro de Vigo (@Farodevigo) September 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Videos on social media showed them attempting to block the road, with Spanish police trying to push them back and dragging some away.\n<\/p>\n \u201cComplicit\u2026 get out of here,\u201d protestors chanted at police.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot cut stages short, you cannot block the cyclists\u2019 path,\u201d Guillen said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s illegal because it\u2019s defined as such both in the Penal Code and in the Sports Law. We are a sport and sport is meant to unite, anything that doesn\u2019t serve that purpose isn\u2019t linked to sport.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to defend our sport, we want to defend our race, and that\u2019s why we want to keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n No suspension<\/p>\n There have been calls to suspend the Israel-Premier Tech team from the race, but Guillen reiterated the Vuelta\u2019s stance that this is a decision which is out of the organizers\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday, there was a match between Italy and Israel. A football match was played, and a European Cup in which Israel participated has taken place,\u201d Guillen said following Monday\u2019s soccer World Cup qualifier played in Hungary.<\/p>\n \u201cThe participation of these teams is not prohibited because no international federation has done so, none. And there hasn\u2019t been any international body that has imposed sanctions requiring us, the world of sport, to act accordingly.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom now on, what we want is for the race to continue because all the teams participating in La Vuelta have legitimacy.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Director of La Vuelta, Javier Guillen (C) speaks flanked by sports journalists, former cyclist Pedro Delgado (L) and Carlos de Andres, during the presentation of the 76th edition of La Vuelta cycling tour of Spain, in Burgos on February 11, 2021. (Cesar Manso\/AFP)<\/p>\n Guillen said the Vuelta is deploying every possible resource when it comes to security, but it is impossible to cover every area in a race of this size. The director was asked if a Plan B was in place for Sunday\u2019s final stage.<\/p>\n \u201cNo Plan B for reaching Madrid, no replacing the Madrid stage, absolutely not,\u201d Guillen replied.<\/p>\n Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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