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They showed that there is massive support for Palestine in Spain, which arguably empowers the government to adopt a hard line on Israel - embargoes etc. Whether that has an impact on the psychopaths in Israel is another matter
Spain had already put in place further sanctions.
https://www.politico.eu/article/spain-pm-sanchez-permanent-weapons-embargo-israel/
See also
"82% of those polled thought Israel was committing genocide and 70% believed the EU should impose sanctions on Israel".
As @dogbone posted earlier the memories of Franco are still fresh in Spanish minds.
Also:
https://twitter.com/leylahamed/status/1965062697630007574
See also
Spanish PM criticised by …. opposition politicians. That’s a shock !!!
"82% of those polled thought Israel was committing genocide and 70% believed the EU should impose sanctions on Israel".
As @dogbone posted earlier the memories of Franco are still fresh in Spanish minds.
I would be part of that majority. That doesnt mean I agree with interfering with sports events
The world knows the killings are wrong... but disrupting the sporting event isn't going to stop the killers doing what they're doing.
They were protesting the presence of Israel Premier Tech, as far as I'm aware the only sports team that has has a huge Israeli target on their backs. If the organisers had pulled that team out then the event could have gone ahead with no disruption. The team themselves could have even seen the damage they were causing and pulled out.
If any other sport's season was disrupted this way because of one mid-ranking team would they allow that team to continue to participate? We've already seen this - Russian sports people forced out of their chosen sports because of their government's actions.
Article on road.cc about it:
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-15-september-2025-315909
So you're basically binning the whole of road-cycling.
If road-cycling can't exist without relying on oppressive and sometimes genocidal regimes injecting money in the name of sportwashing then yes, it's time to have a conversation about whether road-cycling should continue in its current form.
A lot of other sports should also be having that conversation.
So you're basically binning the whole of road-cycling.
If road-cycling can't exist without relying on oppressive and sometimes genocidal regimes injecting money in the name of sportwashing then yes, it's time to have a conversation about whether road-cycling should continue in its current form.
A lot of other sports should also be having that conversation.
That's a lovely idealistic world fella. Same as British Cycling and Shell etc... We can likely find something bad about just about every cycling team, every football team, every, well, every-everyone if we look deeply enough.
Simple fact is, most rich companies are there before they've screwed someone over 🙂
I won't argue that Genocide isn't screwing someone over. But if you look into the IPT setup, it has so little to do with Israel and what it started out with 10 years ago, the main funding is now Canadian and whist they have an Israeli presence in their junior squad, well, that's baout it.
That's a lovely idealistic world fella.
People sticking their heads in the sand and saying, 'Well, I don't agree but there's nothing I can do about it so let's just try to enjoy ourselves and not make a fuss' is how these things are allowed to continue escalating.
If you just want to watch racing and not think too hard about the world then there's nothing illegal about that. In fact, it's the way most governments would prefer us all to act.
So gold star for you, I guess.
@Bunnyhop appreciate your comment, think I may frame this one;)
also Overall Rank: 75 of 16682, I'll take it!! Always a little bit of fun is fantasy league.
Hope I get to see some TV cycling next year, else I'll have to get myself over to see a Grand Tour in real life 🙂
The team themselves could have even seen the damage they were causing and pulled out.
The team aren't sponsored by Israel.
They're part-sponsored by a Canadian-Israeli billionaire who has declared his pro-Israel stance. It's a technicality, of course, but it's quite an important one!
Much as you can say that the riders should have some sort of moral compass; unfortunately if you're given a choice between racing and being paid or having no contract, you're going to choose the first option.
Cycling is less resilient to this than a lot of sports since there's very little other money, everyone is scrapping around for funds, it needs billionaires and global conglomerates to fund it and basically if you have that much money, you're probably a **** anyway.
Edit: in fact, much of what @weeksy says ^^
Much as you can say that the riders should have some sort of moral compass; unfortunately if you're given a choice between racing and being paid or having no contract, you're going to choose the first option.
So a bit like concentration camp guards then, excusable?
I'll say it again - Russian riders were forced out when their country invaded Ukraine.
By allowing a team to ride while branded as Israel we collectively condone what the people they represent are doing.
Thread was pretty quiet during the race but now it's on politics it's never been so active...
There a no winners in this one. I'm sure most of the riders (based on public statements) and fans are pro-Palestine. But both the riders and fans missed out on the final, celebratory day.
In an ideal world I've have liked to have seen the final stage happen alongside the protests, but there's far more interest, discussion and publicity because of the cancellation.
Thread was pretty quiet during the race but now it's on politics it's never been so active...
Possibly because it was the worst race for years.
They're part-sponsored by a Canadian-Israeli billionaire who has declared his pro-Israel stance. It's a technicality, of course, but it's quite an important one!
And endorsed by Netanyahu.
Thread was pretty quiet during the race but now it's on politics it's never been so active...
Possibly because it was the worst race for years.
That is very true.
So how do the teams, organisers and riders respond to this?
If IPT rebranded to not be overtly pro Israel would that be enough? Or will they be forever tainted? What about the riders especially the lower level ones who took the job they were offered probably without much foresight of this.
If the other top teams jointly refused to race against them, do IPT get kicked out or do the race organisers/UCI go further and further down the ranking list until they find 9 teams that will - and in doing so increases the relative ability of the IPT riders.
And the riders - would a top rider refuse to race against them either on moral principle or legitimate selfish fear for their safety in a protest affected race?
If IPT rebranded to not be overtly pro Israel would that be enough?
I'm going to say, probably, yes.
Over here (Basque Country) there is anti Zionist graffiti everywhere. Seemingly every village has a Palestine mural, flags everywhere. You'd have to be nuts to ride through in a jersey with Israel in massive letters on the back and perhaps IPT should take some of the blame. We're not talking about cycling nerds who would know that a team called Premier Tech were Israeli funded, in the same way not everyone would know that Astana were connected to the dirty Liberty Seguros/ONCE.
The protests kicked off properly in Bilbao - remember that the Vuelta wouldn't come through the Basque Country for many years due to risk of disruption. I'm not going to say I saw it coming, but really they were running a risk.
Realistically they have to rebrand. The team is based in Girona where there's already quite a bit of anti-cyclist feeling, so training around there would be like having a target on your jersey - I'm surprised the service course hasn't been burnt down!
That's a lovely idealistic world fella.
People sticking their heads in the sand and saying, 'Well, I don't agree but there's nothing I can do about it so let's just try to enjoy ourselves and not make a fuss' is how these things are allowed to continue escalating.
If you just want to watch racing and not think too hard about the world then there's nothing illegal about that. In fact, it's the way most governments would prefer us all to act.
So gold star for you, I guess.
There would be no professional sport left if we went down that route. Who becomes the arbiter of how bad a sponsor can be before they are deemed unpalatable and banned F from sponsorship? Sure there would be some way ones to ban but how far do you go? Do we ban dji from getting involved? Those chinese companies must have links to the state and its atrocities. Let’s not even go towards ebike racing and its environmental damage making thee batteries. Is that acceptable harm or harmful enough to be banned
So a bit like concentration camp guards then, excusable?
Does everything you disagree with become comparable with the evil of concentration camps. Is there no other comparison
Thread was pretty quiet during the race but now it's on politics it's never been so active.
I thing many are more interested in politics than bikes
If the other top teams jointly refused to race against them
Given some of the title sponsors of top teams being Middle Eastern dictators I’m not sure that will work. Would they be banned as well
There would be no professional sport left if we went down that route. Who becomes the arbiter of how bad a sponsor can be before they are deemed unpalatable and banned F from sponsorship? Sure there would be some way ones to ban but how far do you go? Do we ban dji from getting involved? Those chinese companies must have links to the state and its atrocities. Let’s not even go towards ebike racing and its environmental damage making thee batteries. Is that acceptable harm or harmful enough to be banned
I'd say a good indication would be if you can't run your event because of the protests maybe it's time to have a think if it's worth having them around.
Yes, that might lead to the end of professional sport but if no events can go ahead without the backing of sponsors who are simply beyond the pale then professional sport was never meant to be.
I thing many are more interested in politics than bikes
Says the guy who just posted 4 replies in a row with nothing to do with the actual racing 😂
Brian Cookson comes up with a surprisingly simple solution:
https://road.cc/content/news/cookson-calls-ban-nations-cycling-team-names-315931
Seems to me like it would partially solve a lot of the problems, not just with IPT but with other countries attempting to use cycling for sportwashing.
If countries want their flag to be associated with cycling they should really have to produce some cyclists, rather than just buying teams to plaster their flag on.
However, the suggestion came from Cookson (not to mention the fact that money talks) so I would give this a 0.01% chance of being implemented.
Thread was pretty quiet during the race but now it's on politics it's never been so active...
Possibly because it was the worst race for years.
Was it? I thought Vuelta and the Giro both better than the tour by some margin this year with the tour obviously going to Pog as a foregone conclusion. Both the others were in question as to the winner and Podium places right up to close of final Mountain stage
Up in our part of Spain, opinion on the current middle east conflict is divided.
The current attacks, which are the result of Oct 7th hostages/murder etc, which was the result of Israel refusing to stop stealing land, which was the result of "something written 2000 yrs ago in a book" etc etc
If countries want their flag to be associated with cycling they should really have to produce some cyclists, rather than just buying teams to plaster their flag on.
Originally, it was. Started life as the Israel Cycling Academy as a pathway for young Israeli riders into the sport. To help with that, the Giro d'Italia even started in Jerusalem in 2018, also ICA's first participation in a Grand Tour. ICA developed youth cycling programmes across Israel.
Then it became Israel Start-Up Nation and employed a wider range of riders. Dan Martin rode for them for a year or two.
Then in about 2021/22 it became Israel-PremierTech by which time there were only 3 or 4 Israeli riders on the team.
But the original intentions were very much as you say, provide a pathway for riders from a historically very under-represented nation to have the opportunity to compete at WorldTour level.
I seem to remember that Palestinians were prevented from watching large parts of the TDF when it passed through “their areas”?
I don’t think that there’s any evidence that the Israeli team was set up for honourable reasons. I think the success of SKY, followed by Saudi and Bahrain teams and how well it improved their image was noted and had more of an impetus.
Not some altruistic motive to get more people on bikes in the middle east.
Thread was pretty quiet during the race but now it's on politics it's never been so active...
Possibly because it was the worst race for years.
Was it? I thought Vuelta and the Giro both better than the tour by some margin this year with the tour obviously going to Pog as a foregone conclusion. Both the others were in question as to the winner and Podium places right up to close of final Mountain stage
GT Cycling is horrific compared to 15 years ago, it's just 1-3 teams plodding (in a relative context of course) up the hill until everyone gets dropped then 1-3 riders battling it out. Gone are lots of break aways, gone are the solo attacks from 30km out, gone are the KOM jersey winners (obviously apart from this one), you know who's going to win each and every tour, if it's not them, it's the bloke who would have finished P2 instead. But the racing is pretty stale due to team tactics.
Without being too harsh on Q36.5, Tom Pidcock basically rode a majority of this tour as part of the UAE/Visma teams lol, he just sat on the wheel of whichever one suited his pace that day. But he had very little support for what was an epic P3.
Bazarrely i still watch pretty much every stage from start to finish of them all, but i MUCH prefer Belgian/Spring classics and the 1 dayers, not to mention CX and XC racing which are WAAAAAAAY more exciting.
Was it? I thought Vuelta and the Giro both better than the tour by some margin this year with the tour obviously going to Pog as a foregone conclusion. Both the others were in question as to the winner and Podium places right up to close of final Mountain stage
I think that 'better than the Tour', with SuperPog bound to win that race (and his superboosted UAE team bound to dominate) is a low bar. I agree with weeksy on this - the spring races were far better than the GTs this year, imo. Almost any race that UAE or Visma took an interest in became boring. And any sport where the winner has told everyone else his tactics and where he will apply those tactics needs a good hard look at what's going on.
“GT Cycling is horrific compared to 15 years ago”
Maybe a lot of those legendary solo efforts were the result of drug use? Has a “cleaner” sport made it a more boring sport?
Has a “cleaner” sport made it a more boring sport?
That's a far more positive view of current pro-cycling than mine. 🤣
I'm unsure why anybody thinks it's cleaner sport while Pogi and Gianetti are so dominant.
/“GT Cycling is horrific compared to 15 years ago”
Maybe a lot of those legendary solo efforts were the result of drug use? Has a “cleaner” sport made it a more boring sport?
Cleaner or better at avoiding being caught?
gone are the solo attacks from 30km out
Apart from Simon Yates winning the Giro?
My normal questions about things like this - if he wasn't British would it be suspicious? In Yates' case I tend to think that he was lucky that the favourites started playing stupid games and ignored him as a threat.
30 km? Pah! Tyler Hamilton enters the chat.
For those without long memories… 142 km with a broken collarbone.
Doped tours certainly had a wider variance in performances than today’s chess. Pog is a bit of an exception, but saves those attacks for the classics where there is recovery the day after.
https://autobus.cyclingnews.com/tour.php?id=road/2003/tour03/features/interviews/hamiltonstage16_03
30 km? Pah! Tyler Hamilton enters the chat.
For those without long memories… 142 km with a broken collarbone.
Needed dental surgery from grinding his teeth with the pain, iirc?
Barcelona is due to host the Grand Depart of the TdF next year but isn't happy about the Israel Premier Tech team taking part. Some news sites are reporting that Barcelona will drop out if Israel Premier Tech is still allowed to take part...................
I think that's going to be how this plays out. Eventually enough organisers, host towns/ cities, other teams etc are just going to make IPT's position in these events untenable.
Spain has its home Grand Tour turned into a national embarrassment, they're not going to put up with that again.
Any which way you look at it, it's a shit show. The protesters have won so that emboldens anyone with half a grudge on anything to come out and disrupt future bike races. The riders and team staff are left without a job. Can also imagine a lot of potential sponsors wondering if it's worth investing in cycle sport because let's face it, most sponsors are either sportswashing or greenwashing.
Anyone know what the options are to watch the Road World's (free!)?
It doesn't look like SBS will be broadcasting it and I've seen something to suggest the BBC may have it (on iPlayer only?) but I don't know how to find an iPlayer schedule....
(Frankly, I don't fancy sitting thru 6hrs plus of Pogi decimating the field but a 30 - 60 minute highlights package will do nicely. At worst, I guess a very short highlight version will be on the TNT and/or the UCI YouTube channels but often their videos include spoilers in the title or the thumbnail picture. Grrr)
Took a bit of hunting but searching for "Red button schedule" led me to:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0d4g3vh/episodes/guide
So women's and men's TTs on today.
Women's ITT on red button atm.
Alex Dowsett, Chris Boardman and Simon Brotherton all commentating.
Women's ITT on red button atm.
Delighted by the result of that one.