Politics and sport do not mix and when protestors try and get their message across using a sporting event all it does is alienate them even more. The pro Palestinians have disrupted the Vuelta cycling race in Spain with stage 11 having no result and stage 16 being shortened by 8km. This in my view is crossing the invisible line in the sand and they need to be taught a severe lesson because no one respects protests that include violence.
The target is not necessarily disrupting the race, but aimed at the Israel Premier Tech professional cycling team. I was watching the other day unaware that stage 11 had to be called off with no official winners, but stage 16 when I saw someone throw a bottle of water at a rider. Luckily they missed and the worst part is no action was taken against the individual. I am not normally a violent person, but if I saw that live there is no ways I could ignore this as that is not in my DNA.
Cycling is hard sport to police because of the race distance covered all happening on public roads. The events are free to view and the police cannot be everywhere. If people are waving flags and banners is it kind of a give away though and more could be done to protect the cyclists. Stage 16 which was shortened by 8 km was originally 143 kilometers and ended up as a 135 kilometer race avoiding the last mountain climb which would have seen a different rider winning that stage.
The spectators and true fans who had been camping out at the finish line for the entire day did not witness the finishing of that stage. People tend to allow protests to take place as long as it does not interfere with them personally and a sporting event that has nothing to do with the politics should be left alone.
This week on stage 11 a rider was knocked off his bike and he injured himself enough to withdraw from the race. This is assault and being a protestor is no excuse and does not protect you from the law. The Spanish police have been very weak and this should have been dealt with so anyone thinking it is a good idea will think twice. I have no time for the modern way where people would rather film an incident than actually get involved as that solves absolutely nothing. Imagine being on a plane that was hijacked and everyone has their phones out filming and not being prepared to take the plane back by whatever means necessary. Maybe we just think differently and why I struggle when I see these types of incidents and the police standing by doing nothing.
Israel Premier Tech will not be using their cycling uniform for the remainder of the race in order to protect their cyclists. This should never be the solution and the police should be escorting the race properly making sure those participating in the race remain safe.
At the Tour de France earlier in the year protestors tried to stop the race and were removed. On one occasion some flag waving protestor nearly caused an accident on the finishing straight only to be man handles and thrown over the barriers head first. Some people thought this was over the top, but for many this was not severe enough.
If you are protesting whatever it is you are protesting as soon as you cross the line disrupting life or endangering others then there should be consequences. There are certain sports you would never disrupt as the outcome would be dealt with by the fans. If you were a spectator seeing someone up to no good you would snub out whatever the threat was and this would be a natural reaction. If people are looking for conflict then they should be able to receive what is rightfully coming and have no police protection.