{"id":19814,"date":"2025-09-15T09:46:51","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T09:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/vuelta-a-espana-final-stage-abandoned-because-of-pro-palestinian-protests-in-madrid\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T09:46:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T09:46:51","slug":"vuelta-a-espana-final-stage-abandoned-because-of-pro-palestinian-protests-in-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/vuelta-a-espana-final-stage-abandoned-because-of-pro-palestinian-protests-in-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Vuelta a Espana: Final stage abandoned because of pro-Palestinian protests in Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Riders have crashed as a result of the protests, with some saying they have been worried for their safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Last week, Israel-Premier Tech began racing in modified jerseys which did not display their team name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There was no podium presentation for Vingegaard or the winners of the other race jerseys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a pity that such a moment of eternity was taken from us,&#8221; said Vingegaard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I was looking forward to celebrating this overall win with my team and the fans. Everyone has the right to protest, but not in a way that influences or endangers our race.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Clashes continued after the race was abandoned, with protesters throwing bottles of water and other objects at police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Race organisers had already shortened the 21st and final stage of the Vuelta from 111.6km to 103.6km.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Organisers did not specify a reason for the section removed, which would have crossed the plush Madrid neighbourhood of Aravaca.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Cycling journalist Brian Smith told BBC Sport: &#8220;They realised [there could be disruption] a few days ago when the protesters stopped a stage going into Bilbao. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;So there was always a contingency in place and the riders all voted to ride into Madrid. They knew something may happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The protests come in the wake of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/topics\/c2vdnvdg6xxt\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">the Israeli military launching a campaign in Gaza<\/a> in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">At least 64,871 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory&#8217;s Hamas-run health ministry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Speaking before Sunday&#8217;s final stage, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he admired the protesters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Today marks the end of the Vuelta,&#8221; Sanchez told a socialist party rally in the southern city of Malaga. &#8220;Our respect and recognition for the athletes and our admiration for the Spanish people who are mobilising for just causes like Palestine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Madrid&#8217;s mayor, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, said Sanchez&#8217;s comments were to blame for causing the abandonment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;[It is] violence that the prime minister is directly responsible for due to his statements this morning instigating the protests,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Today is the saddest day since I became mayor of this great city.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Israel&#8217;s foreign minister Gideon Saar called Sanchez and his goverment a &#8220;disgrace&#8221; to Spain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Posting on X, Saar said: &#8220;Today he encouraged protesters to take to the streets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The pro-Palestinian mob heard the messages of incitement &#8211; and ruined the cycling race La Vuelta.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/cycling\/articles\/crl5dele2wro?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Riders have crashed as a result of the protests, with some saying they have been worried for their safety. Last week, Israel-Premier Tech began racing in modified jerseys which did not display their team name. There was no podium presentation for Vingegaard or the winners of the other race jerseys. &#8220;It&#8217;s a pity that such [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19816,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19814\/revisions\/19816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}