Vuelta time trial ends without major disruption by pro-Palestinian protesters

By Canadian Press on September 11, 2025.

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish Vuelta avoided major disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters after altering the route of Thursday’s time-trial stage.

Filippo Ganna of team Ineos Grenadiers won the stage with a time of 13 minutes, edging Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates by less than a second.

There were several Palestinian flags being waved around the route in Valladolid, and many fans jeered loudly when the riders from Israel Premier Tech passed by, but without significantly impacting their runs.

Thursday’s time trial was originally scheduled to take place on a 27.2-kilometer (17-mile) route, but organizers changed it to a 12.2-kilometer (7.6 mile) route “with the aim of ensuring greater protection for the stage.” The decision to change the route was not fully embraced by all riders.

Riders on Wednesday voted to keep competing but did not rule out abandoning the Grand Tour event if the protests continued to disrupt the race.

Twice before in this year’s race organizers had been forced to cut short a stage because of the protesters demanding the withdrawal of Israel Premier Tech from the race. One protester caused the crash of a couple of riders on Sunday.

Authorities had limited the number of fans at the finish line Wednesday.

There didn’t appear to be many major blockages Thursday and many fans gathered by the side of the road, several waving Palestinian flags. The finish line was not as crowded as some other parts of the road, however.

Team Visma-Lease a Bike rider Jonas Vingegaard remained the overall leader after finishing ninth in the time trial. His closest contender, Joao Almeida of UAE Team Emirates, made up a few seconds on Vingegaard by finishing third, eight seconds behind Ganna.

Almeida cut the overall gap to Vingegaard from 50 seconds to 40 seconds entering the final stages. A longer stage as originally planned could have allowed Almeida to cut the lead even further.

The race is scheduled to end on Sunday in Madrid, where more protests are expected.

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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

The Associated Press