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Britain’s Tom Pidcock says he worries about riders being targeted after extensive pro-Palestinian protests during the Vuelta a Espana.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 26-year-old finished a career-best third at the three-week race – cycling’s final Grand Tour of the season – for his new Q36.5 team.<\/p>\n
The Vuelta – won by Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard – was affected by protests across at least eight stages of the race, leading to crashes in the peloton and organisers having to end stages early.<\/p>\n
The eight-man Israel-Premier Tech team, who included two British riders, were targeted, specifically on stage five’s team time trial.<\/p>\n
Pidcock said: “Obviously I’m not going to comment on why people are protesting, but I worry about my friends who ride for the Israel [Premier Tech] team.<\/p>\n
“They’re not riding to support Israel, they’re riding because they got an opportunity to race bikes around the world – at the end of the day they’re just like [the rest] of us. And same with all the staff.<\/p>\n
“They had a pretty rough time of it \u2013 they have for a while, but it was worse [at the Vuelta].”<\/p>\n
Pidcock explained that several riders became more worried as the three-week race progressed.<\/p>\n