Vuelta a España ends in chaos and disturbances as pro-Palestine demonstrators take over Madrid circuit

The last stage of the Vuelta a España collapsed into chaos on Sunday as pro-Palestine demonstrators opposed to the presence of Israel-Premier Tech in the race succeeded in breaking onto the final finishing circuit in central Madrid.

In scenes never seen before in the modern-day final stage of a Grand Tour - and rarely in any race - thousands of demonstrators tore down barricades, burst onto the roads and forced its cancellation.

The Vuelta had already been hit by four different alterations to stages because of the pro-Palestine protests, some being partly suspended like in Bilbao on stage 11 and Castro de Herville on stage 16, and others having last-minute route changes like the stage 18 time trial and the stage 20 summit finish at Bola del Mundo.

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However, nothing compared with the drama, size and scale of the protests in Madrid, with police carrying out multiple charges, facing off lines of demonstrators and firing warning rounds during occasional running street battles that extended into the evening.

More than 2,200 police had been drafted in specially for a stage that had been widely predicted to be one of the most conflictive, given Madrid's size and status, as well as being the last chance to stop the race.

Given the scale of the protests and risks involved in continuing, the organisation had no choice but to formally announce the cancellation of the stage, with riders initially stopped about 60 kilometres to go, then finally climbing into their team cars in a park a few kilometres further on.

The virtual winner of the race, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) could be seen talking to team sports director Grischa Niermann. Vingegaard had previously said that he understood why protests were taking place, but did not condone in any way an actual disruption of the race.

High tension in Madrid

The main focus of the protest centred initially on where the 103-kilometre stage was due to head into central Madrid and the usual nine finishing laps. A knot of some 50 protestors ran onto the road, blocking the peloton, which at that point was riding all together in preparation for the final kilometres of the race.

The next development came as protestors tore down the barriers surrounding almost all of the 6.2 kilometres circuit, with state television RTVE saying that two demonstrators in one street jumped over at the same time and began pushing the barriers down in a "clearly coordinated action".

Local dignitaries and other figures like Prince Albert of Monaco could be seen being rushed away from the finish, while TV images also showed a visibly furious mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Almeida, talking to police as events mutated from being a simple bike race into a major political demonstration.

The main centre of the demonstrations remained focused on the start/finish area, with demonstrators jumping over barricades and moving towards the winner's podium. At one point there was a moment of high tension as masked individuals began throwing objects at police, but the situation then eased slightly as demonstrators then began staging a sit-in. Others simply walked repeatedly across the finishing line as if to emphasise that they had achieved their objective of stopping the Vuelta.

Further afield, the situation teetered on turning into a riot as police charged the demonstrators in the Plaza de Callao square three times as bottles and objects were thrown and firing warning shots into the ground. Near Atocha railway station, too, there were multiple moments of high tension.

In others areas of the circuit, in sharp contrast, the events seemed much more like a normal political protest, albeit a very noisy one involving thousands of demonstrators of all ages against the presence of Israel-Premier Tech in the race and the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

In October 2023 a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, sparked Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza. So far, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 64,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, with much of Gaza being destroyed.

Despite multiple requests for comment by media, race organisers limited themselves to promising to give interviews later in the evening. TV stations cut from live coverage of the race to live coverage of the unfolding protests.

"They say that they are not going to move," one reporter for Spanish public broadcaster RTVE said. "This is going to go on for a long time."

"We want to be peaceful, it's a mutiny against what's happening in Gaza, Madrid is rising up against that," one demonstrator told RTVE.

This is the first time a Grand Tour has been stopped before its final stage by political demonstrators since the Vuelta a España in 1978 in San Sebastian.

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