There was no winner on stage 11 of the Vuelta a España in Bilbao today after pro-Palestine protestors disrupted the finish, with the general classification times taken with 3km to go.
Protestors disrupted the race throughout the day, displaying flags and banners, with others encroaching on the race.
The peloton was briefly stopped during the neutral zone at the beginning of the day as protestors entered the course. Later, Mads Pedersen was impeded on the intermediate sprint with 38km, and protesters ran onto the penultimate climb of the day, causing the peloton to change course. Images show riot police at the finish in Bilbao working to hold the crowds back.
Towards the end of the stage, the race organisers announced that there would be no winner.
“Due to some incidents at the finish line, we have decided to take the time at 3 kilometres before the line. We won't have a stage winner. We will give the points for the mountain classification and the intermediate sprint, but not on the finish line,” the organisers said, according to Cycling Weekly.
The decision didn’t halt the GC battle.
Race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) attacked in the closing kilometres of the stage to gain time over João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates–XRG), who is currently second in the general classification, and was in a group behind Vingegaard and Pidcock.
Stage 11’s neutralised finish follows a string of protests over the presence of Israel–Premier Tech at the race.
Last week, protesters disrupted Israel–Premier Tech’s team time trial. And yesterday, demonstrators disrupted stage 10, which led to Wanty–Intermarché’s Simone Petilli crashing.
Although he finished the stage, Petilli later called for calm. The Wanty–Intermarché rider said on X: “I understand that is not a good situation, but yesterday I crashed because of a Protest on the road.”
“Please, we are just Cyclists and we are doing our Job, but if it will continue like this our safety is not guaranteed anymore, and we feel in danger! We just want to race! Please,” he added.
The riders' union, the Cyclistes Professionels Associés (CPA), also met with the race organisers before stage 11 began to discuss how to deal with the protests, allegedly stating they would ride as long as protests remained peaceful.
