Sawt Falasteen - Protests against Israeli team divide Vuelta and scare riders

The third most important race in the international calendar started in Italy on August 23 and once it entered Spain four days later, demonstrators began lining roads waving red, green, black and white Palestinian flags.

Protestors have run into the road, some have attempted to lie in the path of the peloton. At times riders have had to swerve or stop.

"The management and especially the riders are afraid. They are exposed on their bikes and we don't know what might happen," Eric Van Lancker, one of Israel-Premier Tech's two sporting directors, said.

Italian rider Simone Petilli, who rides for the Intermarche-Circus-Wanty team, crashed Tuesday after encountering one protest.

On Wednesday, organisers cut short the 11th stage in Bilbao by three kilometres (1.8 miles) after protesters and police clashed near the finish line. The race was again briefly halted during Friday's stage.

"We are afraid. We are being subjected to insults and all kinds of verbal attacks, it's hard," the team's other sporting director, Spaniard Oscar Guerrero, told Onda Cero radio.

Israel-Premier Tech is a private organisation and not a state team like UAE, for example.

The team enjoys enhanced security protection during races and has long asked its riders not to wear jerseys bearing the word "Israel" when training to avoid being targeted.

"I imagine that some of our riders are thinking of withdrawing, and if that were the case, the team would not prevent them from doing so," Van Lancker, a Belgian who is not at the race but is in contact with his colleagues, told the Flemish media outlet De Ochtend.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, several races, including the Tour de France, have been marked by pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

But the scale of the protests during this 80th edition of the Vuelta has reached a new level in a country where support for the Palestinian cause is strong.

Some members of Spain's left-of-centre government have encouraged the protesters.

Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz praised Spain's "commitment in the face of genocide".

Israel-Premier Tech is owned by Sylvan Adams, 66-year-old Israeli-Canadian property developer who says he is a "self-proclaimed ambassador for Israel"

The team has one Israeli rider, Nadav Raisberg, in its Vuelta squad.

"It's hard for me to express an opinion on what's happening in Gaza," said sporting director Guerrero, "but I'm not happy with what I'm seeing and many people in the team are not happy with what's happening in Gaza."

- 'Massive support' -

Cycling administrators are also divided.

The Vuelta technical director Kiko Garcia, said that, for the safety of the peloton, Israel-Premier Tech should withdraw.

Several competitors from other squads also called for the team to quit on a WhatsApp group run by the riders' union.

The sport's global governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), "strongly condemned" the "actions" of the protesters in Bilbao and reiterated "the fundamental importance of political neutrality in sporting competitions within the Olympic movement".

Withdrawing the Israel team would "set a dangerous precedent", said team owner Adams, who welcomed the "massive support" of UCI President David Lappartient.

"If we give up, it will be the end not only of our team but of all the others as well. Tomorrow, they will protest against the Bahrain, UAE and Astana teams. There would be endless boycotts," Adams told Israeli media outlet Sports Channel on Friday.

Adams called the protesters "terrorists" because they are "violent people" filled with "hatred".

Protests are planned along much of the route through to the final stage on September 14 in Madrid -- another hotspot for Palestinian solidarity.

Adams said he was convinced the team would make it to the finish line.

Israel's retaliatory offensive to the 2023 Hamas attacks has killed at least 64,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

F.AbuShamala--SF-PST