Stage 11 of the Vuelta a España was dramatically curtailed on Wednesday as organisers ruled the finish in Bilbao unsafe due to barriers pushed further back than usual and large roadside flags creating risks for the riders, with no stage winner declared and general classification times taken 3km from the line.

The race organisers announced via Radio Tour: “Due to some incidents at the finish line, we have decided to take the time at 3 kilometres before the line, we won’t have a stage winner. We will give the points for the mountain classification and the intermediate sprint, but not on the finish line.”

Once the announcement was made, João Almeida and Jonas Vingegaard, the top contenders for the red jersey, were seen talking to each other — before it was confirmed that riders were not to go through the finish line in Bilbao at all.

The disruption began even before the racing had started, when protesters blocked the road in the neutral zone and forced the peloton to a halt. Riders were stopped while police cleared the demonstrators, who carried banners and Palestinian flags, before the stage was eventually able to roll out of Bilbao.

When the race passed the finish area for the first time with 38km remaining, pamphlets bearing the slogan “Israel Genozida. Euskal Herritik Kanpora” (“Israel genocidal. Out of the Basque Country”) were thrown onto the road, and large Palestinian flags were draped over set-back barriers, adding to safety concerns.

Then, at 27km to go on the Alto del Vivero, protesters held a banner across the road, forcing riders to move out of the way, with Tom Pidcock having to duck underneath it. Shortly afterwards, organisers confirmed the finish would be neutralised with GC times taken at 3km to go.

Tom Pidcock goes under pro-Palestine banner
Tom Pidcock goes under pro-Palestine banner (Image Credit: TNT Sports)

Images showed a heavy police presence at the line, with riot officers facing protesters holding flags over the road. One local activist posted on Twitter/X: “There will be no winner after the stage finish was suspended due to the massive presence of pro-Palestine protesters. The finish line is packed with Ertzaintza riot police. This is what happens when you try to whitewash genocide.”

Another message from the same account, sharing video of the Vivero disruption, read: “Second attempt to cut the stage on the climb to Vivero. The organisation of La Vuelta has just announced that the stage will not finish at the finish line on La Gran Vía de Bilbao due to the massive presence of protesters. Times will be taken 3km before.”

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The protests once again targeted the presence of Israel-Premier Tech in the peloton, following similar actions at stage five’s team time trial in Figueres and during stage 10 to Belagua, when Intermarché-Wanty’s Simone Petilli crashed after demonstrators entered the road.

Heavy police presence at Bilbao finish line, 2025 Vuelta stage 11
Heavy police presence at Bilbao finish line, 2025 Vuelta stage 11 (Image Credit: @friebos on Twitter/X)

Petilli said afterwards that riders “feel in danger” and are “just cyclists doing our job,” comments echoed by the CPA riders’ union president Adam Hansen, who stressed this morning: “Cyclists are not involved in political or social disputes — they are simply doing their job: racing. Their safety must never be put at risk.”

CPA representative Elia Viviani told the Cycling Podcast that the union would support racing continuing as long as protests remained peaceful. “If it’s all peaceful, then there’s no problem, so the race will proceed normally. We are dependent on that. If there are falls, danger and so on, then we’ll decide what we do,” he said.

The neutralisation overshadowed what had been a tense day of racing, with repeated attacks on the climbs around Bilbao. Tom Pidcock and Jonas Vingegaard both gained time on the Alto de Pike, while João Almeida was dropped, but with the stage ending 3km out those gaps will be reflected only in the general classification.

2025 Vuelta stage 11 protest, Bilbao
2025 Vuelta stage 11 protest, Bilbao (Image Credit: TNT Sports)

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The Basque Country has shown strong solidarity with Palestine throughout the race, with roadside flags, chants of “Palestina” and graffiti reading “Netanyahu Assassin” visible on previous stages. Guernica, from where the peloton passed earlier today, has one of the region’s most active pro-Palestine movements, its history as a symbol of resistance during the Spanish Civil War often linked to the current struggle.

On one occasion today, the broadcast cameras caught a line of people dressed in black standing silently at the mountain roadside, each holding objects wrapped in white cloth to symbolise the children killed by Israel in Gaza.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators at the roadside, 2025 Vuelta stage 11
Pro-Palestine demonstrators at the roadside, 2025 Vuelta stage 11 (Image Credit: TNT Sports)

Israel-Premier Tech, co-owned by Canadian-Israeli billionaire Sylvan Adams, has long been criticised by campaigners who describe the team as a vehicle for “sportswashing” Israel’s image.

Earlier this year, Adams said the Israel Defence Force “needs to finish the job” in Gaza, remarks that provoked outrage among human rights groups. Protesters argue that the team’s place in the peloton endangers riders and that the UCI should follow its precedent of banning Russian and Belarusian squads after the invasion of Ukraine, with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) brandeding IPT as “Team Genocide.”

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez, the first senior European leader to accuse Israel of genocide, reinforced that view in an interview with the Guardian published today, calling the assault on Gaza “one of the darkest episodes of international relations in the 21st century.” He warned that Europe’s “double standards” in its responses to Ukraine and Gaza risked undermining its credibility.