(Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday he admired the pro-Palestinian protesters whose demonstrations along the route of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race led some riders to threaten to quit the competition last week.
With large demonstrations planned, more than 1,000 police officers were deployed on Sunday as cyclists reached the final stage of the 21-day race in the capital, Madrid.
The protests, which have targeted the Israel-Premier Tech team over Israel’s actions in Gaza, have disrupted several stages of the race, which is due to end at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT).
“Today marks the end of the Vuelta,” Sanchez told a Socialist party rally in the southern city of Malaga. “Our respect and recognition for the athletes and our admiration for the Spanish people who are mobilising for just causes like Palestine.”
Spain, which recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024, has been a vocal critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and Sanchez’s government announced new measures targeting Israeli military supplies earlier this month.
Protesters briefly breached security on Saturday and staged a sit-in to block the road during the penultimate stage in the Guadarrama mountains outside Madrid, but cyclists swerved round them.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, leader of the conservative opposition People’s Party in Madrid, said Sanchez’s comments harmed Spanish sport.
“When the president of the nation cheers on the boycott against the Vuelta Ciclista a Espana, in his own capital, he becomes directly responsible for every incident that occurs,” she said in a post on social media X.
“What harm to our sport and our country!”
(Reporting by Graham Keeley; Editing by Helen Popper and Clare Fallon)
