Accusations and threats between the UCI and the Spanish government

There is a good mess served after the cancellation of stage 21 of La Vuelta a España 2025 due to the demonstrations that occupied a large part of the route already within Madrid. To the ongoing political turmoil between right-wing and left-wing parties, who have added these events to their arsenal to attack each other, was added yesterday afternoon the International Cycling Union, which did not hesitate to directly point the finger at the Government of Spain. The response from the Higher Sports Council has not been long in coming.

The cancellation of the last stage of La Vuelta continues to reverberate

Since Sunday, the final stage of La Vuelta 2025 in Madrid had to be canceled due to the overflow of any forecast that had been made due to the already announced demonstrations against the participation of the Israel Premier Tech team in the race and seeking to bring visibility to the massacre that the Hebrew country is perpetrating in the Gaza Strip, practically nothing else is talked about, not only in the world of sports but the issue has dominated the political news of the last few days.

However, the situation heated up even more after the statement issued yesterday afternoon by the UCI, the only sign of life that the cycling's governing body has given regarding the problems that have been experienced in La Vuelta after another statement made at the beginning of the race in which, essentially, they washed their hands regarding the participation of Israel Premier Tech in the Spanish tour.

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This latest statement by the UCI has not been so superficial, attacking directly the Government of Spain with phrases like "We also regret that the Spanish Prime Minister and his team have supported actions carried out within the framework of a sports competition that may hinder its smooth running and that, in some cases, have expressed their admiration for the protesters. This position totally contradicts the Olympic values of unity, mutual respect, and peace."

If that were not enough, it ends by stating, "The UCI firmly condemns the instrumentalization of sport for political purposes in general, and in particular by a government." The full UCI statement can be read on the organization's website.

The UCI's response did not take long to come from the Higher Sports Council, in a letter written in the first person and signed by the Secretary of State for Sports, which begins by referring to the right to demonstrate, especially if it is for a just cause such as the defense of Human Rights.

At the same time, it reproaches the UCI for whitewashing the Genocide being committed in Gaza through sports, pointing out that these actions contravene the Olympic Charter in clear reference to the UCI's statement. Finally, it makes a clear defense of Spain's ability to organize international sports events, listing various examples of top-level competitions held in this country, a direct response to the UCI's doubts about this organizational capacity.

In the context of this dialectical struggle, many have criticized the UCI for not mentioning the situation in Palestine. Including a member of the UCI itself, such as the former president of the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation, José Luis López Cerrón, who, in an interview last night on the well-known radio program El Larguero of Cadena Ser, distanced himself from the UCI's statement with eloquent phrases such as "I am going to think that they forgot to mention the cessation of the massacre" or "What we all want is for this slaughter that is taking place in Gaza to stop once and for all."

However, Cerrón tried to partly justify the UCI's position regarding the non-expulsion of Israel "We are still waiting for the majority of countries to stand against Israel." An aspect in which the UCI has always argued that, as long as the International Olympic Committee does not speak out to ban Israel from international competitions, they do not have the authority to do so. A situation that represents a serious comparative grievance when we think that, just three years ago, Russian teams and cyclists were almost immediately banned after the invasion of Ukraine.

Now, the concern of this UCI statement, whose president David Lappartient, let's remember, ran for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee, is that this could somehow affect the organization of the World Cup that Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will jointly host, where aspects such as where the final will be played are still to be decided.

In any case, it seems that the situation will continue to cause controversy for a few weeks, and now the question is whether the events that occurred in La Vuelta will have any kind of ripple effect. For now, during the Montreal GP on Sunday, there were protests against the presence of Israel Premier Tech in the race, which, although did not affect the race itself, resulted in 7 arrests.