Marc Soler won stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana as riders from the Israel-Premier Tech team raced in modified jerseys amid more pro-Palestinian protests at the final Grand Tour of the season.
Spaniard Soler powered up to the summit finish at Farrapona in the north of the country alone after dropping his fellow breakaway riders.
Overall race leader Jonas Vingegaard was runner-up on Saturday, 39 seconds behind, as he edged out nearest rival Joao Almeida of Portugal – Soler’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team-mate – on the second big mountain stage in two days.
Denmark’s Vingegaard boosted his lead in the general classification by a further two seconds.
Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock finished eighth and remains in third position overall, although he conceded a further 10 seconds to fourth-placed Jai Hindley, who also came fourth on the day.
Riders from Israel-Premier Tech participated wearing jerseys without their team name on for the “safety” of the race.
Earlier this week, stage 11 ended prematurely with no winner declared as police struggled to contain hundreds of flag-waving pro-Palestinian protesters in Bilbao.
“In the interest of prioritising the safety of our riders and the entire peloton, in light of the dangerous nature of some protests at the Vuelta, Israel-Premier Tech has issued riders with team monogram-branded kit for the remainder of the race,” the team said on Saturday before the stage.
“The team name remains Israel-Premier Tech but the monogram kit now aligns with the branding decisions we have previously adopted for our vehicles and casual clothing.”
There was some disruption during the neutralised start as riders slowed to a halt to travel down a narrow road lined with people waving Palestinian flags.
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 64,231 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The ministry also says 370 people have so far died during the war as a result of malnutrition and starvation, including three over the past 24 hours.
The Vuelta continues on Sunday in Galicia with the medium-mountain stage 15, a 168km route from A Veiga to Vegadeo.
