Cutting short major road races such as the Tour de France is the way to deter protesters, the professional cyclists’ union’s president says.
CPA president Adam Hansen has made the call after La Vuelta a Espana was significantly disrupted last month, with the final stage cancelled.
“Protesters should have the platform taken away from them; if they have no platform they won’t go to a race,” Hansen told BBC Sport.
The Vuelta’s final stage, around Madrid, was cancelled following pro-Palestinian protests, which caused scuffles with riders, and the course to be blocked in several places.
There were several protests and disruptions during the three-week Grand Tour, aimed mainly at the participation of the Israel-Premier Tech team.
“We saw that in Madrid protesters had two hours of live TV, which became just about protesting and not the race,” added Hansen, a former rider and Grand Tour stage winner.
“I’m not against protesting, but putting riders in danger is the last thing we want – some riders were hit and pushed off their bikes [in Madrid] and this is not protesting. It goes past that line.”
Holding bike races incurs huge costs, and organisers rely on host towns and cities to cover the expense for services, such as policing rolling roadblocks and protecting the public. But Hansen believes cutting short races is the only solution to deter protesters.
“If we had cancelled La Vuelta on a Friday and the last three days were not shot [on TV], the protesters would not have had their platform. By trying every day, we showed there was a platform,” added Hansen.
“Cancelling would have shown them there’s no point in coming to bike races because we turned the TV off. Yes, it’s a huge deal for [Vuelta organisers] Unipublic to do something like that. But we have to make a small sacrifice today for the long-term future of cycling.”
Following La Vuelta, Britain’s Tom Pidcock, who finished third overall, told BBC Sport: “I worry about my friends who ride for the Israel [Premier Tech] team.
“They’re not riding to support Israel, they’re riding because they got an opportunity to race bikes around the world.”
Israel-Premier Tech have since had their invite to Saturday’s second-tier Giro dell’Emilia race in Italy revoked.
Premier Tech, the Canadian-Israeli team’s title sponsor, has said it expects Israel to be dropped from their name next season.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 66,225 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
