Sawt Falasteen - Romo abandons Vuelta after protest crash incident

The 26-year-old Movistar rider fell in Sunday's 15th stage when a protestor emerged from bushes, lunged towards cyclists and slipped, with a police officer running from the other side of the road to try and intercept him.

In the confusion, Romo fell from his bicycle and then appeared to run after the protestor before returning to his bike and finishing the stage.

On Tuesday morning, before starting the 16th stage, Romo said he had suffered "only bruises" from the incident but was "not feeling very well, mentally or physically".

The race has been disrupted numerous times, including when the 11th stage was shortened because of protests at the finish line in Bilbao.

Protestors are mainly targeting the Israel-Premier Tech team, owned by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams.

The team is a private outfit and not a state team but was last week hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for continuing to compete at the Vuelta despite the vehement protests.

The governments of Spain and Israel have been increasingly at loggerheads over the war in Gaza, which Madrid has described as a genocide.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive in October 2023 in retaliation for an unprecedented cross-border attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel's bombardment has killed at least 64,605 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations says are reliable.

S.Barghouti--SF-PST