An individual clutching a Palestine flag caused a crash on stage 15. The team time trial on stage five was also disrupted when the Israel-Premier Tech team, owned by Israeli-Canadian businessman Sylvan Adams, were stopped on the road by a group of protesters holding Palestinian flags.
Tuesday’s stage 16 ended eight kilometres before the scheduled finish, while several other stages of this year’s race including stage 11 – which was shortened without a winner – have suffered the same issues.
Prior to Wednesday’s stage, riders in the peloton voted to neutralise the stage in the event of a disruption, rather than race to an undefined finish, which has been a feature on days disrupted by protests on the Grand Tour this year.
Vuelta organisers announced later on Wednesday the individual time trial in Valladolid on Thursday’s 18th stage will be reduced from 27.2km to a 12.2km route, with the same start and finish as originally planned, to ensure “greater protection” for the stage.
In an interview with news agency Reuters, the vice-president of the rider’s union Pascal Chanteur said they could decide to quit the race altogether because of safety concerns if there are further incidents.
“The riders voted by a majority to stop in case of a new problem. They will then decide whether to continue or to end the event,” said Chanteur.
Bahrain Victorious rider Jack Haig, added: “Unfortunately we’re being caught in the middle of something that maybe doesn’t even really involve us.
“At the moment we are kind of just the pawns in a very large chess game that unfortunately is affecting us.”
The race finishes in Madrid on Sunday.
