Spain’s Vuelta Cycling event added additional security following the pro-Palestinian protests against Israeli-based technology.
Released on September 11, 2025
Spanish sports minister Pilar Alegria stressed the “double standard” by saying Israeli teams should be banned from sports, just as the Russians invaded in 2022 after the Russians invaded Ukraine.
The presence of a team called Israeli Premiertech at the Espana Cycling Grand Tour, the Vuelta A Espana Cycling Grand Tour, has led to major protests in Spain. The Spanish government describes Israel’s attacks in Gaza as “genocide.”
Recommended Stories
List of 4 itemsEnd of the list
Israeli Pumier’s technology is privately owned by Sylvan Adams, a billionaire Israeli-Canadian real estate developer, rather than a national team, but is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to quit Vuelta despite intense protests.
“It’s difficult to explain and understand that there is a double standard,” Alegria told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.
“Given the fact that there was such a massacre, genocide, and this absolutely horrifying situation we live in every day, I agree that the League of Nations and the Commission should make the same decisions as in 2022,” she added.
“Neither the team nor the Russian club were involved in the international competition. When individuals joined, they did it under a neutral banner, without the national anthem.”
Alegria said he hopes the organizers of Vuelta that Israeli Pumier’s technology will block competition, but he has accepted that such a decision can only be made by UCI, the world governing body of cycling.
Various stages of Vuelta have been affected by the protests, with phases 11 and 16 being shortened during the race, but Thursday’s Stage 18 time trial was also pre-shorted for security reasons.
Alegria said he hopes the race is completed and that Sunday’s final stage is expected to be the target of various protests.
“If the race doesn’t finish, that wouldn’t be good news,” Alegria said.
“But what I’ve been looking at recently in the protest is logical in my opinion,” she added.
“(Protest) is a clear expression of what people are feeling, and sports can’t distance themselves from the world surrounding it.”
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s alliance of left-wing government took away one of Europe’s most powerful pro-Palestinian stances and robbed them of their ties with Israel.
Israel launched its Gaza attack in October 2023 in retaliation for an unprecedented cross-border attack led by Palestinian group Hamas, resulting in 1,139 deaths.
Israeli artillery fires have killed at least 64,600 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to figures from Hamaslan Gaza.
“The (Israel army) killed more than 60,000 people.
“So, given this situation, it’s important to take the same position as what sport has done to Russia at least.”
