If you’ve been following this year's Vuelta a España, you'll have likely seen or read about the pro-Palestine demonstrations that have disrupted the race.
From the beginning of this year’s final Grand Tour, demonstrators have lined the roadside waving Palestinian flags, entered the course to halt the race and even engaged in a stand-off with police.
Coverage of the protests has focused overwhelmingly on statements issued by the race organisers, the riders and the Israel–Premier Tech team, which has been the main target of the demonstrations. So we spoke directly with those behind the demonstrations.
“Sportswashing pure and simple”
In April, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement called for protests against the inclusion of Israel–Premier Tech in this year’s Grand Tours. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is a founding member of the Palestinian-led BDS movement.
Stephanie Adam, a campaigner for PACBI, told BikeRadar via email that Israel–Premier Tech’s presence at La Vuelta is “sportswashing pure and simple”. Sportswashing is typically described as a way to improve the reputation of a government or state, and it has become commonplace in cycling.
She believes the team “was explicitly created to whitewash and distract from Israel’s grave crimes against Palestinians”, adding that it refers to itself as an “ambassador” for Israel.
“The team’s backer and co-founder, billionaire Canadian-Israeli Sylvan Adams, refers to himself as an ambassador-at-large for Israel,” she explains, highlighting how Adams has said that riders understand that being on the team means being an ambassador for the country.
Recently, former Israel–Premier Tech riders Jakob Fuglsang and Alessandro De Marchi have expressed relief at no longer riding for the team.
Adam says: “Israel is committing what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled is plausibly genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, killing tens of thousands. Israel’s livestreamed engineered mass famine is starving Palestinians to death. It has also decimated Palestinian homes, hospitals, schools, universities, and sports facilities.”
Israel’s war on Gaza was launched in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7 2023, where more than 1,000 Israelis were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage.
Adam contextualises Israel’s ensuing war on Gaza by saying: “This is only Israel’s latest, devastating attack on Palestinian life. As Amnesty International and others have documented, Israel has been imposing an apartheid regime on the entire Palestinian people, including refugees, for 77 years.”
She says Palestinians and the PACBI’s progressive allies “will not stand by” as any sportwashing of Israel takes place. “How could we? Our most urgent task at hand is stopping the genocide. There can be no sports as usual,” she says.
“Grassroots power at its finest”
Lidón Soriano has been one of the organisers of the protests at La Vuelta. In July, she was involved in launching BDS Deportivo, a platform for the boycott of Israel in sport through the BDS Movement and RESCOP, the Spanish network against the occupation of Palestine.
She says the platform's main objective is to expel Israel from La Vuelta and all sporting competitions.
“We've achieved coordination throughout all stages, and it's been wonderful to be able to create that common thread in terms of message, action, and objective," she tells BikeRadar by email.
"From the first stage in Figueres to the current one in Asturias, we've been in contact with all the local groups, and all have carried out peaceful, nonviolent actions.
“Personally, the experience was impressive: grassroots power at its finest and a collective demand for justice for Palestine."
While there have been protests at other races, none have been as large as those at La Vuelta, which even led to stage 11 being shortened due to the number of demonstrators at the finish line in Bilbao.
Soriano says she thinks there are two reasons for this. “On the one hand, the Spanish population is probably the most sensitive and supportive of Palestine of all European countries. On the other hand, the Spanish government is less repressive toward demonstrations of support for Palestine,” she says.
It is not only the Spanish population that is supportive of Palestine, but parts of the government too. Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, was the first senior European leader to accuse Israel of genocide.
The government also recently announced that it will move forward with a law that, if passed, would directly impose a military embargo against Israel. And, last week, the country’s minister of foreign affairs, European Union and cooperation of Spain, José Manuel Albares, even said he supports Israel–Premier Tech leaving La Vuelta.
UCI hypocrisy
Albares is one of many to have called for Israel–Premier Tech to leave Spain’s Grand Tour, but the decision on whether or not they can race ultimately lies with cycling’s governing body, the UCI.
Last week, the UCI released a statement saying it “firmly condemns” the protests at La Vuelta, stressing its political neutrality. But for Adam, there is hypocrisy in the UCI’s actions.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UCI banned Russian teams from participating in competitions, but no similar ban was placed on Israel after it began its most recent attack on Gaza following October 7.
Adam says this signals to Israel that “its genocide… can continue with no consequences, with total impunity”.
Pro riders’ reactions
Pro riders have been at the sharp end of the protests at La Vuelta. Several have crashed following protesters entering the course of the race. Some riders have acknowledged the right to peaceful protests, but expressed concerns over safety.
Following the curtailment of stage 11, Tom Pidcock said the demonstrators' actions were “not going to help what they’re protesting for". Race leader Jonas Vingegaard said La Vuelta is the “wrong place” for people to protest.
This week, the Dane expressed understanding for what’s behind the protests: “People are doing it for a reason, it's horrible what's happening,” he said after stage 15, but added that it was a “shame” the race was being targeted.
In response to their comments, Soriano is appealing to riders. “I would like to ask them what they would like the world to do if their children, wives, or mothers were being murdered,” she says.
Adam adds: “Palestinians and our progressive allies would like nothing more than for there to be no need to protest against Israel’s genocide, its apartheid rule, or its military occupation. But that is not the world we live in.”
What happens next?
Israel–Premier Tech has said it’s firmly committed to racing at La Vuelta. The team has also removed its name from its kit, citing safety concerns, and Sylvan Adams has said withdrawing from the race would amount to “surrender to the terrorists”.
Meanwhile, Adam and Soriano say protests will continue through the final week of La Vuelta.
Soriano says BDS Deportivo demands the expulsion of Israel from all sporting events, and will “continue coordinating the actions that the different groups are preparing in their respective cities until governments and sports organisations fulfill their legal obligation to do everything possible to end the occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Palestine.”
Adam says protests will continue at La Vuelta, and until Israel–Premier Tech is excluded from UCI races and events.
“Riders and teams are reportedly starting to call for UCI to do just that,” she says. “We encourage them to make their collective voice heard, to uphold sporting values and push UCI to stop tarnishing the sport.”
