The final stage of the Vuelta a España cycling race was shut down on Sunday after thousands of anti-Israel protesters clashed with police and invaded the course where the race was due to pass in the center of Madrid.
Around 56 kilometers (35 miles) from the finish of the major cycling event, riders came to a halt before the Vuelta was abandoned.
The massive pro-Palestinian protest was the latest and perhaps largest to disrupt the Vuelta this month. At least six of the last 10 stages of the Grand Tour race have been interrupted or shortened by anti-Israel demonstrators, with over 20 people detained by police.
The protests have garnered support from Spain’s top officials, who have been harshly critical of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The Israeli team competing in the race, Israel-Premier Tech, has stayed in the event despite calls to drop out, and this weekend saw one of its riders take home an award.
On Sunday, ahead of the final stage, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the disruptions filled him with “pride.” In his first public comments on the demonstrations, Sanchez expressed his “recognition and full respect for the athletes, but also our admiration for a people like Spain’s, which mobilizes for just causes, like Palestine.”
“Spain today shines as an example and as a source of pride, an example to an international community where it sees Spain taking a step forward in the defense of human rights,” he told a Socialist party gathering in Malaga, drawing criticism from Jerusalem.
Protesters block the road in Madrid in a successful attempt to disrupt the twenty-first stage of the Spanish cycling race La Vuelta on September 14, 2025. (AP/Manu Fernández)
Anticipating more disruptions, Spain deployed more than 1,500 police officers ahead of the final stage of the race in Madrid to keep the protesters at bay. But it wasn’t enough.
On Gran Via, where cyclists were due to pass multiple times, protesters knocked down barriers and marched into the road, some chanting for a boycott of Israel as green and red smoke filled the air. Near Atocha, Madrid’s central train station, police charged demonstrators and fired tear gas, before letting them walk into the road.
Protesters could be heard chanting that Israel was guilty of “genocide.” Authorities later said that more than 100,000 people had taken part in the anti-Israel protest in Madrid.
Race organizers said there would be no podium presentation, as is traditional at the end of the race to celebrate the winners. The decision to abandon the stage was celebrated by protesters, who chanted that “Palestine won the Vuelta.”
The international competition, with over 180 cyclists biking 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) over three weeks, has turned into a diplomatic battleground due to the protests. Sanchez’s statement is his latest salvo against Israel, which he has previously accused of “genocide.”
In addition, last week, Spain announced an arms embargo and partial import ban on Israel. And Sanchez lamented that he couldn’t stop Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza because Madrid “doesn’t have nuclear bombs.”
This handout photo, taken on September 8, 202,5, and provided by the Moncloa Palace, shows Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announcing several measures, including an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on ships carrying fuel for Israeli military personnel from docking in Spanish ports, to ‘stop the genocide in Gaza.’ (Borja Puig de la Bellacasa / LA MONCLOA / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shot back that the remark was a “blatant genocidal threat.”
Following Sunday’s scenes in Madrid, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar castigated Sanchez for his statements, blaming the Spanish premier for the unrest and calling his government “a disgrace.”
“Today he encouraged demonstrators to take to the streets,” Sa’ar posted on X on Sunday evening. “The pro-Palestinian mob heard the incitement messages – and wrecked the ‘La Vuelta’ cycling race. Thus, the sporting event that had always been a source of pride for Spain was canceled.”
In the shadow of that diplomatic rift, other officials from Spain’s left-wing government have also praised the protesters disrupting one of the country’s signature athletic events.
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said he would support the expulsion of the Israeli-owned team from the race, while government spokesperson Pilar Alegría, who is also minister of sports and education, said neutrality is no longer possible in the face of the death and destruction in Gaza.
Riders compete in the Vuelta on September 12, 2025. (Miguel RIOPA / AFP)
She has called for Israel to be excluded from international competitions in the same way Russia has since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“It is difficult to explain and understand that there is a double standard,” Alegría told Spanish radio station Cadena SER last week.
“Given that there has been such a massacre, a genocide, such an absolutely terrible situation we are living through day-by-day, I would agree that the international federations and committees should take the same decision as in 2022,” she added.
Israel-Premier Tech has rebuffed calls to drop out of the race, saying such a decision would set a “dangerous precedent.” But it agreed earlier in the race to change its jersey to a monogrammed kit with only the team’s logo, in the hope of being less conspicuous.
“In the interest of prioritizing the safety of our riders and the entire peloton, in light of the dangerous nature of some protests at [the Vuelta], Israel – Premier Tech has issued riders with team monogram-branded kit for the remainder of the race,” the team’s September 6 statement said.
The decision came a day before a protester jumped into the path of the race, causing two cyclists, not on the Israeli team, to crash. Since then, two stages of the race have been shortened because of the protests, and others have faced interference.
Team Israel Premier Tech’s US rider Matthew Riccitello competes during the 18th stage of the Vuelta a España, a 26 km race against the clock between Valladolid and Valladolid, on September 11, 2025. (Miguel Riopa/AFP)
This weekend, one member of the team, Matthew Riccitello, was named the Best Young Rider of the Vuelta. Riccitello, 23, won the title on Saturday following an impressive sixth-place finish on the race’s penultimate stage, which was blocked by a large group of demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and holding signs.
For Israel-Premier Tech, Riccitello’s award was a bright spot. He was to be awarded a white jersey on the podium Sunday, the first in the Israeli team’s history, with a fifth-place showing overall in the race.
“Of course it was a goal,” he said following the stage on Saturday. “Everything kind of went perfect today. All I had to do was follow the wheels and hang as long as I could. I’m happy with how the legs have felt these three weeks.”
Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso speaks in Lima, Peru, on January 18, 2025, amid celebrations for the city’s 490th anniversary. (AP/Martin Mejia)
The team has received some support from other Spanish politicians. The leader of the conservative opposition Popular Party, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, lashed out on X at the protest, which he said “gave such a shameful image.”
“Instead of ministers encouraging it, the government should condemn, denounce and prevent it,” he added.
And Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of Spain’s Madrid region, visited the team on Sunday in what the team called a show of support.
“I came to welcome the Israeli team and to say that what you have experienced over the past three weeks is not Spain,” she said, according to a statement from the team. “It is the behavior of a minority, and it does not represent us. My message to the team is clear: You are not alone.”
