Tour of Spain still disrupted by pro-Palestinian protests

Targeted again on Friday, September 5, by pro-Palestinian demonstrations of unprecedented scale during the Tour of Spain, members of the Israel PT cycling team expressed their apprehension with more than a week of racing remaining until the finish in Madrid. "We are afraid. We are receiving insults, all kinds of verbal attacks, it's hard," confided one of the two sports directors present at the race, the Spaniard Oscar Guerrero, to Onda Cero radio.

Several stages have already been disrupted, and on Friday the breakaway was blocked for a few moments by protesters at the foot of the formidable Angliru climb. The most significant incident occurred on Wednesday in Bilbao , during the ^11th stage, which was shortened after jostling and clashes between protesters and police.

"I imagine that some of our riders are thinking about withdrawing, and if that were the case, the team wouldn't stop them," added another member of the management team, Belgian Eric Van Lancker, who is not on site but is in contact with his colleagues. "We have seen protests, including at races in Belgium, but they were silent. What is happening here is extreme," he told Flemish radio station De Ochtend.

Israel PT, which is a private organization and not a state-owned team like UAE, for example, benefits from increased protection during the races. The team has also long asked its riders not to wear "Israel" jerseys during training to avoid being targeted. But the scale of the protests during this ^80th edition of the Vuelta has reached a new level in a country where support for the Palestinian cause is very strong.

Faced with this escalation, the technical director of the Vuelta, Kiko Garcia, considered that, to guarantee the safety of the peloton, the best thing would be for the Israel-Premier Tech team to withdraw from the race, while recalling that the decision was up to the International Cycling Union (UCI). The latter "firmly" condemned the "actions" of the demonstrators in Bilbao and recalled "the fundamental importance of political neutrality in sporting competitions brought together within the Olympic movement."

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Thursday on RNE radio that he was "in favor" of the Israel PT team withdrawing from the race, adding that the government did not have the power to make the decision, according to the Associated Press. "We must send the message to Israel and Israeli society that Europe and Israel can only have normal relations when human rights are respected," he said.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the team on Friday in a message on X: "Bravo to Sylvan [Adams, the Israeli-Canadian billionaire owner of Israel PT] and the Israeli cycling team for not giving in to hatred and intimidation. You make Israel proud," he wrote according to AP.