Vuelta a Espana race vehicles vandalized overnight in Basque Country

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Graffiti on an EF-Drapac team vehicle at the Vuelta a Espana. (Image credit: Twitter)

Nine official race vehicles in the Vuelta a España have been vandalised on Tuesday night, according to local authorities.

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Vehicles in the Basque Country towns of Portugalete and Barakaldo were spray-painted with graffiti that demanded that the Vuelta quit the Basque Country, saying simply, 'Out of Here.'

The vehicles belonged to a number of different teams as well as national media.

The Vuelta a España returned to the Basque Country in 2011 to end a 33-year-absence after pro-independence sympathisers had blocked the race there in 1978. Igor Anton soloed to victory in Bilbao on the Vuelta's return to the Basque Country in 2011.

Since the Vuelta began to return to the Basque Country, there have been no serious incidents in the area affecting the race.

EF Education First-Drapac directeur sportif Juanma Garate, who is from the Basque Country, tweeted an image of one of the spray-painted vehicles. Underneath the picture, Garate commented in Basque, Spanish and English: "Are we still like this?"