One of the world’s top cycling events was brought to a premature end on Sunday after pro-Palestinian protesters opposed to the presence of a team with ties to Israel poured onto the course.
The Vuelta a España, one of cycling’s three grand tours, was stopped 43 kilometers — about 27 miles — short of the finish line what for its organizers called “security reasons.” The podium ceremony, normally an elaborate production, was abandoned.
Protesters on Sunday also disrupted a major bike race in Montreal, though it finished without being slowed.
In both Spain and Canada, the focus of the protesters’ anger was a team called Israel-Premier Tech, which was established to promote Israel. Instead, since the war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip began almost two years ago, the team has become a flashpoint.
Sunday was the fifth time during this year’s Vuelta, Spain’s version of better-known Tour de France, that protests over the presence of the team caused chaos. During one stage of the race, the team was briefly held up by protesters, and cyclists on other teams suffered minor injuries from crashes caused by the confusion the protesters created.
Some stages were rerouted or shortened to avoid blockades. Partway through the race, Israel-Premier Tech riders began appearing in new jerseys that bore only the team’s initials.
The moves did not seem to help quell the protests.
Israel-Premier Tech was founded by Sylvan Adams, a Canadian billionaire who moved to Israel a decade ago. The team is registered in Israel but has extensive Canadian representation among both its management and its athletes, and is co-sponsored by a Quebec company that produces peat moss and other agricultural and industrial products.
Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct, 7, 2023, and the start of the war it set off, the team has had tighter security before and after races. While training, its members have worn clothing without any team markings.
In an interview with The Jewish Chronicle in 2023, Mr. Adams, the son of a Holocaust survivor who established a real estate development company in Quebec, dismissed the idea that his sponsorship was political.
“I don’t like to say it’s a mixture of sports and politics,” Mr. Adams, a keen amateur cyclist, told the British news outlet. “I like to say it’s sports diplomacy. I make a distinction.”
But the protesters have not been won over by that argument, and few cyclists on other teams have come to Israel-Premier Tech’s support.
Jonas Vingegaard, the winner of the truncated Vuelta, had earlier expressed sympathy for the protesters.
“They think that it doesn’t get attention enough,” he said of the war in Gaza. “And they’re really desperate,” he added.
The team also encountered hostility from some Spanish officials.
On Sunday, before the race was cut short, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a Socialist, praised the protesters’ mobilization. He said he felt “admiration for a people like the Spanish, who take to the streets for just causes, such as the Palestinian one.”
And he said, “Spain today shines as an example before an international community that sees us stepping forward to defend human rights.”
Mr. Sánchez did not comment after the race ended early.
Mr. Adams, the team’s founder, expressed regret for the events in Madrid, saying: “Peaceful protest is a legitimate form of expression, but the events of the past three weeks send a clear message that we cannot tolerate violence directed at the sport of cycling.”
This month, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, praised Mr. Adams for refusing to withdraw from the race. “Great job to Sylvan and Israel’s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation,” he said. “You make Israel proud!”
Many cyclists have voiced concern about the potential danger they say the Israeli team poses to all the competitors.
Tadej Pogacar, the winner of this year’s Tour de France and the current world champion, expressed anxiety. “I think all the riders are a little scared of what could happen,” Mr. Pogacar told reporters in Quebec City on Friday, speaking before the start of a race that is a sister event to the one held Sunday in Montreal. “We ride at full speed, we give it our all.”
Before the start of the two Canadian races, which are the only top-ranked professional races in North America, a group started an online campaign to interrupt the events if Valérie Plante, Montreal’s mayor, did not tell the race organizers to exclude the team.
On Friday, only a few dozen protesters appeared in Quebec City.
But on Sunday, a large and boisterous group, some carrying Palestinian flags and banging on pots, chanted and booed the Israel-Premier Tech riders each time they passed.
As the end of the race neared, lines of police officers, some in riot gear, inserted themselves between the protesters and the road, which was blocked with steel barriers.
After winning the Montreal race, Brandon McNulty, an American teammate of Mr. Pogacar’s, expressed relief that there was no serious disruption. “We were able to race, while they got their message out.”
Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times. A Windsor, Ontario, native now based in Ottawa, he has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
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