Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has expressed his support for Israel-Premier Tech being expelled from the 2025 Vuelta a España, amid the continued pro-Palestine protests that have disrupted the race and caused stage 11 in Bilbao to be cancelled.
The team's ongoing participation in La Vuelta has been the subject of several protests, with their team time trial effort on stage 5 in Figeures also being blocked by protesters and Simone Petilli (Intermarché–Wanty) crashing on stage 10 after demonstrators ran into the road.
A statement issued by the team after the dramatic scenes in Bilbao confirmed their commitment to racing on in Spain, due to the 'Dangerous precedent' it might set if they were to leave. The team, while registered in Israel, has no direct links to the Israeli state.
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Albares spoke on Radio Nacional de España (RNE), Spain's public radio broadcaster, confirming his support of the team's expulsion on Thursday and discomfort with seeing Israel-Premier Tech continue to feature at the Vuelta.
"I understand it, and I would certainly be in favour of it," Albares said, when asked if he thinks they should be removed from the race, before noting that it's a decision that can only be made by the sport's governing body – the UCI.
"You know that this is not a decision made by the Spanish Government; it is made by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Therefore, the Spanish Government had no say in the participation."
Albares also cited Russia's expulsion from sports competitions after the invasion of Ukraine as he made his points about IPT. In March 2022, the UCI suspended all Russian and Belarusian teams – this decision, made after the International Olympic Committee's recommendation, banned teams such as UCI ProTeam Gazprom-Rusvelo.
"We cannot continue to maintain a normal relationship with Israel as if nothing were happening," said Albares. "Because we have to send a message to Israel, to Israeli society.
"They have to understand that Europe and Israel can only relate – as stated in Article 2 of the Association Agreement – when human rights are respected, because as democratic countries, we base and relate to each other in that way."
Spain is one of the countries in the EU to have officially recognised Palestine as a state, having done so in May 2024. During the first week of the Vuelta, Spanish political party Izquierda Unida called for organisers to remove Israel-Premier Tech from the Vuelta, due to Israel's ongoing armed conflict in Gaza.
While the power to remove Israel-Premier Tech from the Vuelta lies with the UCI, the race organiser has had to comment on the situation, with technical director Kiko García telling media that he hopes whatever decision is taken is that it is done quickly after the neutralised Bilbao stage.
"I would like to think that in this situation a lot of people will react, we've been in contact with the UCI and we told them before the race came to Spain [on stage 5], we knew that some members of the public here were very implicated in the protests," he said.
"But there haven't been any changes up to now of no type, we hope that there will be rapid changes, because time is rolling on.
"We know that if there are no reactions or there are no changes in any way, then the protests will continue," said Garcia. "As we've said, we have no choice but to follow the rules. The team's participation is obligatory, and whoever can decide the opposite - that isn't us.
"Our duty is to protect the race, of course, the riders and the teams - and we're moving on that."
