Vuelta a España organisers Unipublic are remaining cagey about the ongoing participation of Israel-Premier Tech in the race, with technical director Kiko García telling media that he hopes whatever decision is taken is that it is done quickly.
Stage 11 of the Vuelta a España in Bilbao was partly suspended, and the last three kilometres of the day’s racing were cancelled with no winner after pro-Palestine demonstrators, protesting against the presence of Israel-Premier Tech at the race.
Surrounded by a sizable cluster of journalists, García was unable to say what the future of Israel-Premier Tech would be in the race, but he did make it clear that rapid action was needed given the precarious situation in which the Vuelta now finds itself.
The Vuelta a España race director, Javier Guillén, had already been very critical of how pro-Palestine protestors had tried to block the road to stop Israel-Premier Tech during the team time trial, promising court action against those involved.
Guillén did not make declarations to the media after the latest protests, although after the stage 5 blocking of the route by protesters, he had pointed out that the team was not a wildcard invitation but was able to take part on its own merits in the UCI ranking system. In 2025, Israel-Premier Tech were automatically invited to every WorldTour race as one of the top two ProTeams, cycling’s second-tier league.
However, on this occasion, rather than a single team the entire race has been affected by the protests, sparking a much more lengthy series of answers from García in the area where team buses were parked outside Bilbao’s San Mames football stadium.
“The decision was taken to stop the stage at three kilometres to go because the situation was very tense; we either cancelled it completely or did what we could,” García said, speaking in English, then French, then Spanish.
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