Vuelta time trial ends without major disruption by pro-Palestinian protesters
MADRID (AP) — The Spanish Vuelta avoided major disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters after altering the route of Thursday’s time-trial stage.
Filippo Ganna of team Ineos Grenadiers won the stage with a time of 13 minutes, edging Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates by less than a second.
There were several Palestinian flags being waved around the route in Valladolid, and many fans jeered loudly when the riders from Israel Premier Tech passed by, but without significantly impacting their runs.
Thursday’s time trial was originally scheduled to take place on a 27.2-kilometer (17-mile) route, but organizers changed it to a 12.2-kilometer (7.6 mile) route “with the aim of ensuring greater protection for the stage.” The decision to change the route was not fully embraced by all riders.
“The news … that they changed the (route), it was a bit strange,” said Ganna, a two-time time trial world champion. “I tried to do the best today … tried to be aggressive.”
Ganna, who won a Vuelta time trial in Valladolid in 2023, had an average speed of of 56.2 km/h on his way to his eighth Grand Tour individual time-trial victory.
Riders on Wednesday voted to keep competing but did not rule out abandoning the Grand Tour event if the protests continued to disrupt the race.
Twice before in this year’s race organizers had been forced to cut short a stage because of the protesters demanding the withdrawal of Israel Premier Tech from the race. One protester caused the crash of a couple of riders on Sunday.
Authorities had limited the number of fans at the finish line Wednesday.
There didn’t appear to be many major blockages Thursday and many fans gathered by the side of the road, several waving Palestinian flags. The finish line was not as crowded as some other parts of the road, however.
Team Visma-Lease a Bike rider Jonas Vingegaard remained the overall leader after finishing ninth in the time trial. His closest contender, Joao Almeida of UAE Team Emirates, made up a few seconds on Vingegaard by finishing third, eight seconds behind Ganna.
“I think I can be pretty happy with how it went today. I think that on a flat time trial like this it’s suited a bit more for the bigger guys,” Vingegaard said.
Almeida cut the overall gap to Vingegaard from 50 seconds to 40 seconds entering the final stages. A longer stage as originally planned could have allowed Almeida to cut the lead even further.
“I did the best I could,” Almeida said. “Just a pity that it wasn’t the 27 (kilometers). We’ll never know. We can still be pretty satisfied with the outcome. I felt very strong. I think it’s the same for everybody”
The race is scheduled to end on Sunday in Madrid, where more protests are expected.
___
AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
