Pro-Palestinian protesters continue to disrupt the Vuelta a Espana, with Egan Bernal taking victory on a curtailed stage 16 – his first at international level since a horrifying crash in 2022.
The Colombian, a former winner of the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, edged out Spaniard Mikel Landa on a surreal finishing straight, with few spectators around and no fanfare as a result of the last-minute change.
The finish was brought forward by 8km before the scheduled line at Castro de Herville, with general classification times also taken at the point. Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard retained the overall lead.
“We have a big protest at three kilometres before the line. We will decide the stage winner and take times at eight kilometres before the line,” the race directors announced on Radio Vuelta.
The race had entered the final 15km, with Bernal and Landa – the final survivors of a 17-man breakaway – out in front when the announcement was made.
A large group of protesters waving Palestinian flags had completely blocked the road on the ascent to the planned finish line, forcing the finish to be moved to the foot of the final climb.
The sporting story however was Bernal’s maiden stage victory at the Vuelta and his first at a grand tour since 2021. The 28-year-old, once cycling’s most exciting young prodigy, has endured a long road back to the top of the sport from a training crash which left him in intensive care three years ago. The Colombian later said he had had a 95% chance of being paralysed after sustaining a collapsed lung and multiple fractures.
The peloton had been content to allow the breakaway to stay away, but on the penultimate climb the main bunch began to split, with the general classification contenders forming their own group.
Vingegaard, who suffered a late puncture and needed to take one of his teammates’ bicycles, came in 15th, almost six minutes behind the stage winner, with the Dane’s GC rivals alongside him.
The pre-race favourite remains 48 seconds ahead of Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) with Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) third overall, over two and a half minutes down on the red jersey.
Previously there was no winner on stage 11, after organisers ordered the race to finish 3km from the line due to pro-Palestinian protesters causing disruption at the finish in Bilbao.
The protests have centred on opposition to the continuing participation of the Israel-Premier Tech team in the race. There were incidents on stage 10 which caused Intermarche’s Simone Petilli to crash and also during stage five’s team time trial, when Israel-Premier Tech were briefly stopped on the road by a group of protesters holding Palestinian flags.
Israel-Premier Tech removed their name from riders’ jerseys on Saturday, but the protests have continued.
Movistar rider Javier Romo was brought down in a crash caused by a protestor running onto the road on Sunday’s stage 15. The Spaniard was not at the start of Tuesday’s stage, abandoning the race due to injuries picked up in the crash.
Additional reporting by Reuters
