The Vuelta a España has decided to shorten Thursday’s individual time trial stage in an effort to avoid further disruptions to the race by pro-Palestinian protesters, organisers have said.
Stage 18 in the city of Valladolid had an original route of 27.2 kilometres, but the riders will now race for 12.2 kilometres, and the start and finish of the stage will remain as originally planned.
“With the aim of ensuring greater protection for the stage, the organisers of La Vuelta, in coordination with Valladolid City Council and following consultation with the College of Commissaires, have decided that tomorrow’s time trial will be contested over a 12.2-kilometre route,” a statement said.
The news to shorten the stage came after a riders’ union (CPA) official said riders may quit the tour altogether should more protests hit the embattled three-week race.
Protesters have hampered the Vuelta throughout. (Getty Images: Anadolu/Felipe Carnotto)
Two stages of the race, Tuesday’s stage 16, along with stage 11, came to a premature end after organisers ordered the riders to finish ahead of the scheduled stage end due to protesters on the route.
On stage 5’s team time trial, the Israel-Premier Tech team, the main focus of the protesters’ ire, was stopped on the road, and the individual time trial was always going to be another possible target for disruption.
Although Israel-Premier Tech has since removed its name from riders’ jerseys, there has been no let-up in the protests.
Before Wednesday’s stage, riders voted to neutralise the race if protests caused disruption rather than race to an “undefined finish line”, as had happened the previous day.
“The riders voted by a majority to stop in case of a new problem. They will then decide whether to continue or to end the event,” CPA vice president Pascal Chanteur told Reuters.
“We decided that if there is an incident that we would try to neutralise the race and then that would be it, because in the end racing to an undefined finish line is not really fair sport,” Australian rider Jack Haig, who rides for Bahrain Victorious, told reporters.
An extra 1,500 police will be on the streets of Madrid as the race concludes on Sunday. (Getty Images: Dario Belingheri)
“Unfortunately, we’re being caught in the middle of something that maybe doesn’t even really involve us. At the moment, we are kind of just the pawns in a very large chess game that unfortunately is affecting us.”
On Tuesday, race director Javier Guillen said the Vuelta’s intention was to finish the race in Madrid on Sunday as planned, adding that no Plan B was in place, but after the shortening of Thursday’s stage, this may well change before the weekend.
Spanish authorities said they would deploy an additional 1,500 police officers over the weekend, the largest public security deployment in Madrid since the NATO summit was held in the Spanish capital in 2022, adding they sought to balance safety at the event with citizens’ right to protest.
Hindley loses time
Giulio Pellizzari extended his lead in the young rider competition. (Getty Images: Tim de Waele)
Wednesday’s 17th stage was uninterrupted by protests as Jai Hindley’s young teammate Giulio Pellizzari powered away from the top general classification riders in the final kilometres.
There were plenty of protesters present when the race passed through the town of Ponferrada with 25km to the finish, but police had the situation under control.
Red Bull-BORA Hansgrohe rider Pellizzari attacked with 3.5km left of the 143.2km ride from O Barco de Valdeorras to the summit finish at Alto de El Morredero and came in 16 seconds ahead of Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) with Hindley losing two seconds to his podium rival in third.
Race leader Jonas Vingegaard was next over the line, two seconds ahead of his closest general classification rival João Almeida, and the Dane holds a 50-second lead, with Pidcock almost two and a half minutes down on the red jersey in third.
The leaders climbed through charred mountainsides. (Getty Images: Dario Belingheri)
Pellizzari, fifth overall in his first Vuelta and wearing the white jersey for best young rider, found himself alongside the top four in the GC — Vingegaard, Almeida, Pidcock and Hindley — along with American Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech).
A battle between the top two may have been expected, but it was 21-year-old Pellizzari who made the decisive attack, and while Riccitello tried a couple of times to drag the others up to the leader, the Italian prodigy looked comfortable in winning his first grand tour stage.
Pidcock, looking to hold on to third overall, made a sprint for the finish to take a couple of bonus seconds from Hindley, his main rival for the podium.
“I think that’s the sacrifice, I guess, when riding for the podium,” Pidcock said.
“I sacrificed the stage that could have been really nice. But, we’re racing for the podium, that’s the main goal so we have to make decisions.”
The area all around the finishing climb had been hit by fierce wildfires less than a month ago, and as the riders made their way up to the line, they were greeted by charred, barren hillsides.
Reuters/ABC