The riders at Vuelta a España have voted to neutralise, and so effectively stop racing, if there are further protests during stage 17 of the race.
Australia's Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) spoke to the media, including Cyclingnews, on behalf of the riders before the start of stage 17.
The rider's Professional Cycling Association (CPA) was involved in the voting process by representatives of the 23 teams at the Vuelta.
"We decided that if there is an incident, we would try to neutralize the race and then that would be it because in the end racing to an undefined finish line is not really fair sport," Haig said.
Haig explained how the vote was carried out and clarified that the decision was just for stage 17, with further daily votes expected. He explained the riders' emotions and position.
"Unfortunately, we're being caught in the middle of something that maybe doesn't even really involve us and at the moment we are kind of just the pawns in a very large chess game that unfortunately is affecting us," Haig said.
The 143.2km stage from O Barco de Valdeorras to the mountain top Alto de El Morredero started as planned at 1:30pm local time. Riders and race organisers were also concerned about reports of high winds at the finish.
Haig admitted that the stage 16 protest had affected the riders. Pro-Palestine supporters have protested intensively at the Vuelta, with a large protest blocking stage 16 at the 3km to go mark, preventing the organisation from holding the stage finish in Castro de Herville.
The race director announced just a few minutes before the end of the stage that the GC and stage winner would be decided with eight kilometres to go. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) beat Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quickstep) to win the stage, with the confused peloton finishing a few minutes behind.
Earlier in the stage, race officials and police had cleared a cut-down tree on the race route. Several riders have crashed due to the protests, sparking concern amongst riders for their safety.
"Yesterday it started to become a little bit uncomfortable because there were some acts to maybe deliberately try and harm the riders by cutting down trees, by putting the thumb packs on the ground to deliberately light fires. It is now starting to get a little bit uncomfortable," Haig said.
Despite the tension and safety concerns, Haig said the riders want to race on and end the Vuelta in Madrid on Sunday.
"I think everyone would quite like to arrive in Madrid, but we need it to happen in a fair way where riders are safe," he said.
