Nobody at Vuelta expected what happened in Bilbao, where a pro-Palestine protest in the area of ​​the finish line forced the organizers to shorten and neutralize the 11th stage of the Vuelta. Dozens of demonstrators invaded the arrival of the hamlet, the Bilbao-Bilbao, of 157 km in fact by blocking the race: “Due to some accidents at the finish, we decided to take time 3 km from the finish …” The organizers explained, while the demonstrators with Palestinian flags tried to push the barriers on the road to block the rectilinear of arrival. On the sports front, there was no goal to overcome and no winner.

The British Tom Pidcock gained a few seconds in the standings, Arriving on the point of neutralization together with the leader of the race, Jonas Vingegaard. The Danish now has 52 ”ahead of Joao Almeida and 56″ on Pidcock. But honestly the news matters little, at least the sporting one.

The Vuelta is in check. During the team chrono days ago, the Israël-Premier Tech team had been blocked by some demonstrators and seventy per hour and had gone well because nobody had hurt himself. Yesterday or less the same scene with the demonstrators who crossed the way to the passage of the group, causing the fall of our Simone Petilli who wrote on social networks: “I understand that the situation is not good, but yesterday I fell due to an event. Please, we are only cyclists who do their job and if it continues like this, our security will no longer be guaranteed”.

At the meeting this morning, many other runners expressed their concern. “We respect the right to peaceful protest but the actions that endanger the athletes are unacceptable. Cycling is a very hard sport, which requires efforts to the limits of the superhuman, and we cannot accept that these huge labors must be added these threats: we will no longer tolerate the irresponsible and dangerous actions of a minority that jeopardizes the life of those we represent. To do everything that is in their power to ensure a safe performance of the race and protect the runners: professionalism and reactivity are needed to maintain a sporting competition and not to make it home to unnecessary risks. of obstacle and violence “. No comments are needed.