“It’s amazing that the race organisers put Israel Premier Tech ahead of a successful conclusion to their own race. Astounding poor judgement. What will happen in the Tour Down Under?” – Lachlan Hurse, organiser of From Australia to Cuba with Love* that seeks to challenge the U.S blockade of Cuba by riding collectively a distance equivalent to that between Australia and Cuba.
After three weeks of racing, there will be no podium presentations at the finish of la Vuelta a España. Over 100,000 protesters in Madrid managed to stop the riders from reaching the finish line at the Landscape of Light in the centre of the Spanish capital. No podium presentations in front of the Post Office in 2025 in this 100 year old race. Even though the state deployed 1,500 police firing tear gas and attacking Palestinian supporters carrying flags with baton charges, organisers were forced to call off the race.
Israel’s genocide and its sports washing of international cycling by having an Israeli team front up to all the major grand tours in 2025 has ended in failure. People have risen up against Israel’s political use of sport in the same way they rose against racially selected Springbok teams during South African apartheid.
Three top riders in this year’s Tour of Spain, Jonas Vinegaard, Joao Almeida, and Tom Pidcock, will not stand on the podium in Madrid. The white jersey winner, Matthew Riccitello, a member of the Israeli team, will not have best young rider honours bestowed upon him. How could the UCI or Israel Premier Tech, openly complicit in Israeli war crimes, knowingly be manipulated to help cover up the genocide?
During the time trials Israel premier tech as a protagonist for the genocide was effectively out of the race. During stage 12, there was a 55 riders break-away but no Israel riders participated in the stage hidden from view in the peloton. This has been true of the other stages that came before the cancellation of stage 11 by the organisers. During the team time trial, activists blocked the Israel team causing it to lose time in the race.
It took the demonstrators a long time to build momentum in Madrid cancelling stages 11 and 16 they experienced quite a lot of repression from the state. The state deployed 1500 police in Madrid to stop the protests against the genocide. The use of international sporting events by Israel down through the years whitewashes its murderous slaughter of Palestinians culminating in the current genocide.
Political churlishness by riders, pundits, and commentators was on display throughout the three weeks of the race. The main networks attempted to edit out or ignore the presence of flag waving demonstrators throughout the 21 stages of the race. Listening to the coverage by Australia’s SBS one would think the demonstrators did not exist at least during the first half of the race.
Listening to the coverage by Australia’s SBS, one would think the reason the demonstrators occupied the finish line was because of the contempt Israel has shown for human life.
The organizers of Eurovision made a big mistake by staging the European Song Contest in Tel Aviv in 2019. Australia’s special broadcasting service (SBS) has a history of support and complicity in the Israeli genocide sponsoring an Australian entrant in Eurovision held in Tel Aviv.
BDS (Australia) urged SBS not to participate in or broadcast Eurovision 2019 from Israel. BDS asked participating artists to respect the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and not perform in Tel Aviv. All to no avail.
SBS sprang to attention and participated in the cultural washing of Israel’s occupation and war crimes. The only local radio station to oppose Eurovision in Tel Aviv was community radio 4Zzz with the full support of Blair Martin from its legacy program Queer Radio. Blair had been to several Eurovision contests but pulled the plug on it because organizers insisted on having the European Song Contest event staged in Israel.
On 4th of September 2025, Palestine solidarity shut down the finish of stage 11 of la Vuelta in the Basque town of Bilboa. This stage of the race was cancelled by the organisers. No winner was declared. This is a first in professional cycling and in a grand tour in Europe. The Basque people showed strong resistance to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile Vuelta a España organisers remain cagey about continuing participation of Israel-Premier Tech squad. They said: ‘We hope decisions will be taken quickly‘. This was a warning to the authorities who responded by deploying more security until Madrid where they deployed over 1,500 police. But it was not enough, police were overwhelmed by the crowd.
American cycling commentator, Chris Horner, a previous winner of La Vuelta, gave Palestine supporters a serve for intervening in stage six of the Giro d’Italia, accusing the protesters of being criminals and of assaulting two of breakaway specialists by having them ride through a tape … like you would at the end of any race.
Despite opposition from the state, media outlets worldwide, the UCI – professional cycling’s main representative, and pro-zionist government like the US, France and Australia, the Palestinian resistance held strong and defeated the inclusion of a state team complicit in the genocide.
Ian Curr
15 September 2025
* “From Australia to Cuba with Love” is an annual campaign organized by the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society to raise funds for medical supplies and agricultural equipment in Cuba, and to raise awareness about the enduring U.S. blockade of Cuba. Participants walk, run, cycle, or dance to cover the distance between Australia and Cuba, with pledges of support going to projects on the island nation. The 2025 campaign started on September 13 and runs until November 9.
Solidarity and awareness:
The campaign aims to express solidarity with the people of Cuba and to highlight the challenges they face due to the U.S. blockade.
Funds raised support vital medical and agricultural equipment for Cuba.
The campaign encourages people to participate by walking, running, cycling, or swimming to collectively cover the distance between the capital cities of Australia and Cuba (14,886 km).
Key aspects of the campaign
Since its launch in 2022, the campaign has become an annual event, with the latest edition commencing in September 2025.
Participants contribute through their physical activities and by pledging donations.
The campaign is part of a global movement of solidarity with Cuba, with the Australian parliament consistently voting to condemn the U.S. blockade in the United Nations General Assembly.
The campaign is supported by various organizations, including the Women’s Community Aid Association and Solidarity in Motion Inc..
You can register to participate or pledge money through the campaign’s mycause fundraising page.