Riders threaten to quit Vuelta a Espana if pro-Palestine protests disrupt race again
Pro-Palestine supporters have disrupted numerous stages of the Grand Tour amid controversy surrounding Israel-Premier Tech’s involvements
Vuelta a Espana riders voted to neutralise Wednesday's stage 17 if protests disrupt the stage rather than race to an "undefined finish line" which has been a feature in stages disrupted by pro-Palestine supporters on the Grand Tour this year.
They could even quit the race altogether, a riders' union (CPA) senior official said on Wednesday.
After a group of protesters holding Palestinian flags stopped the Israel-Premier Tech team in the stage five team time trial, more stages - including stage 16 - 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, had completely 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," CPA vice president Pascal Chanteur told Reuters.
"We decided that if there is an incident that we would try to neutralise the race and then that would be it, because in the end racing to an undefined finish line is not really fair sport," Bahrain Victorious rider Jack Haig told reporters.
"Unfortunately we're being caught in the middle of something that maybe doesn't even really involve us. At the moment we are kind of just the pawns in a very large chess game that unfortunately is affecting us."
The stage eventually went ahead, with Italy's Giulio Pellizzari powering away from a small group of riders in the final kilometres on the climb to the finish as Jonas Vingegaard increased his overall lead by two seconds.
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 Joao Almeida, and the Dane holds a 50 second lead, with Pidcock almost two and a half minutes down on the red jersey in third.
Reuters