Politicking à la Sport: How the Vuelta Became a Diplomatic Arena
- Dan LaSalle
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
How mass protests at a cycling Grand Tour reflect widespread condemnation of Israel amid the absence of state-led coordination.
Spectators at the 2024 Vuelta a España waive Palestinian flags to signal opposition against Israel-Premier Tech’s participation in the race.[1]
Background
The Vuelta a España, Spain’s 1,900-mile grand cycling tour, was rocked to its core in September when an estimated 100,000 protesters forced multiple stage closures, injured cyclists, and precipitated the race’s premature end in a hotel parking lot.[2] These demonstrations centered around Team Israel–Premier Tech (“IPT”), a cycling team funded in part by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.[3] Christian Prudhomme, the organizer of the Tour de France, called these disruptions a “completely new phenomenon” within cycling, while also acknowledging the sport as a unique public forum “subject to the ups and downs of life.”[4]
Israel has been accused of using the team, through institutional sponsorship, as a vehicle of “sportswashing”—the sponsorship of a sports team or event to distract from bad practices elsewhere—in the Vuelta as well as other sanctioned cycling events.[5] The Vuelta demonstrations were primarily organized by the Platform for the Sports Boycott of Israel,[6] an extension of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (“BDS”) movement, known for its past successful pressure campaigns against businesses with ties to Israel.[7] Lidón Soriano, a spokesperson for the protest organizers, justified their purpose, stating:
"We are not against the sport [of cycling], nor the return of the sport, but we are against the participation of a team that represents a state that is committing ethnic cleansing."[8]
Despite a tenuous ceasefire reached by all parties in October 2025, United Nations estimates indicate that Israel has claimed the lives of nearly 71,300 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including almost 20,200 children, as of December 30.[9]
A Mirror of Apartheid South Africa
This demonstrative strategy has historical precedent. After decades of brutal and violent baasskap (the political philosophy of apartheid),[10] a formal Olympic expulsion in 1970,[11] and global outcry from a New Zealand-backed rugby tour in 1976,[12] the Republic of South Africa found itself on the receiving end of the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement.[13] Gleneagles is a multilateral, non-binding pledge between members of the Commonwealth of Nations that strongly discouraged members from competing against South African sports teams or athletes in any capacity.[14] This agreement led to the adoption of the UN International Declaration Against Apartheid in Sports six months later, which lent further statutory credence to the isolation of the state’s white-minority rule government.[15] Broadly, these decisive actions helped to instrumentally solidify South Africa’s status as a pariah state.[16] It was not until 1991, when Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk successfully dismantled key segregationist legislation, that South Africa once again became a full global participant in sports and otherwise.[17]
A Political Unraveling Beyond the Peloton
In the wake of the Vuelta controversy, similar collective condemnation arose. Gran Canaria’s president threatened to retract the island’s hosting duties for next year’s Vuelta finale if IPT was not banned from future cycling competition.[18] IPT’s title sponsor urged the team to drop “Israel” from its name, acknowledging that the “international situation has evolved significantly since [their] debut…in 2017.”[19] Outside of cycling, four members of the United Nations Human Rights Council called on FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international federation soccer as Israel’s siege of Gaza continues.[20]
Moreover, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose government formally recognized Palestine in 2024,[21]openly praised the demonstrators and even called for Israel’s complete exclusion from participation in international sports.[22] Sánchez’s statements led Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Sa’ar, to impose sanctions on two high-ranking members of the Spanish government.[23] Beyond sports, Canada,[24] the United Kingdom,[25] and France[26] all now formally recognize the existence of the Palestinian State, joining Spain.[27]
Amid the mounting pressure, IPT fully rebranded in November 2025 as the NSN Cycling Team, adopting a Swiss license and relocating its core operations to Spain.[28] Questions remain, however, as to whether the Israeli boycott will extend beyond cycling. For instance, in response to the Human Rights Council’s comments, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told The Athletic that the Trump administration would “absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup[,]” which the U.S. is slated to host next year.[29]
A Predictive Outlook
If the Vuelta protests are indicative of a deeper collective undercurrent that draws from the same philosophy as both the Gleneagles Agreement and the subsequent UN declaration, their impact will undoubtedly be felt far beyond the winding roads of Spain. However, it is likely an overstatement to predict the emergence of similarly scaled protests in the United States, at least in the near term. In December 2025, Andrew Giuliani—the son of disgraced former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani—insinuated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at World Cup matches in the United States are a plausible reality, underscoring a deep nationalist sentiment that materially disincentivizes large-scale protest activity.[30]
Globally, however, the lesson remains clear: we can—and should—look to the Vuelta as the unquestionable bellwether of the shifting diplomatic tide. Much as sporting boycotts once served as an early indicator of apartheid-era South Africa’s growing isolation, it seems highly likely that at least the European Union will coalesce around a Gleneagles-esque pact: a non-binding but coordinated framework discouraging cultural and sporting engagement that, while falling short of formal sanctions, would nonetheless supply a powerful signal to Israel and other nations who support its participation in sport and other cultural events.
[1] Felix Wong, Watching La Vuelta A España Stage 11 in Padron, Felix Wong (Aug. 28, 2024), https://felixwong.com/2024/08/watching-la-vuelta-a-espana-stage-11-in-padron/.
[2] Anti-Israel protests turn Spanish Vuelta cycling race into a diplomatic battleground, Associated Press (Sep. 13, 2025, at 05:44 ET), https://www.npr.org/2025/09/13/g-s1-88626/anti-israel-protests-spanish-vuelta.
[3] Callum Devereux, "The name of the team is no longer sustainable": Israel-Premier Tech's title sponsor joins calls for team to drop 'Israel' from identity and brand image, ROAD.CC (Sep. 25, 2025, at 15:52 GMT), https://road.cc/content/news/premier-tech-want-israel-dropped-team-name-316041.
[4] Félix Serna, “The strength of races is usually precisely that people don’t want them to be disrupted” – Christian Prudhomme says protests at the Vuelta mark a new phenomenon, cyclinguptodate (Sep. 17, 2025, at 23:00 UTC+1), https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/the-strength-of-races-is-usually-precisely-that-people-dont-want-them-to-be-disrupted-christian-prudhomme-says-protests-at-the-vuelta-mark-a-new-phenomenon.
[5] Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España: Sportswashing Genocide, BDS Movement (Apr. 4, 2025), https://www.bdsmovement.net/news/giro-d%E2%80%99italia-tour-de-france-vuelta-espa%C3%B1a-sportswashing-genocide#:~:text=Israel%20Premier%20Tech%20was%20created%20by%20Canadian%2DIsraeli,in%20shamefully%20racist%20terms%20of%20%E2%80%9Cgood%20vs.
[6] laSexta Columna, Lidón Soriano, manifestante propalestina en La Vuelta: "La idea es comenzar a meternos en el fútbol y el baloncesto", laSexta: Boicot Deportivo a Israel (Sep. 19, 2025, at 22:09 UTC+1), https://www.lasexta.com/programas/sexta-columna/lidon-soriano-manifestante-propalestina-vuelta-idea-comenzar-meternos-futbol-baloncesto_2025091968cdb892394a813873907a7d.html.
[7] PACBI, supra note 4.
[8] laSexta Columna, supra note 6
[9] UNOCHA, Reported impact snapshot | Gaza Strip (Dec. 30, 2025) , https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-30-december-2025.
[10] Jamie Miller, An African Volk: The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival, Oxford University Press (2016)[https://books.google.com/books?id=RffmDAAAQBAJ&q=9780190274832&pg=PR4#v=onepage&q=9780190274832&f=false].
[11] Find Out Why South Africa Was Barred From the Olympics for 32 Years, Olympics (Jul. 26, 2018, at 06:01 GMT-4) https://www.olympics.com/en/news/why-south-africa-barred-from-the-olympics-apartheid.
[12] Terry McLean, Goodbye to Glory: The 1976 All Black Tour of South Africa, London: Pelham (1977) [https://archive.org/details/goodbyetoglory190000mcle/mode/2up].
[13] University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, The Gleneagles Agreement on Sporting Contacts with South Africa (1977), https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/5847/74/1977_Gleneagles_Agreement.pdf.
[14] Id.
[15] UNGA, International Declaration Against Apartheid in Sports (Dec. 1977), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/019372357800200209.
[16] Don’t Scrum with a Racist Bum!, AAM Archives, https://www.aamarchives.org/campaigns/sport.html.
[17] Rone Tempest, South Africa Readmitted to Olympics Competition : Apartheid: Nation ends 21 years as a sports pariah because of racism. It is eligible for the 1992 Games., Los Angeles Times (Jul. 10, 1991, at 00:00 PT), https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-07-10-mn-1896-story.html.
[18] Barry Ryan, Canary Islands Will Not Host 2026 Vuelta if Israel-Premier Tech Participate, Domestique: Race news (Sep. 15, 2025, at 14:20 UTC), https://www.domestiquecycling.com/en/news/canary-islands-will-not-host-2026-vuelta-if-israel-premier-tech-participate/.
[19] Jessica Hopkins, Israel-Premier Tech title sponsor calls for removal of ‘Israel’ from cycling team name after Vuelta protests, The Athletic: Cycling (Sep. 24, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6657465/2025/09/24/israel-premier-tech-vuelta-protests-sponsor/.
[20] UN experts call for suspension of Israel from international football amid unfolding genocide in occupied Palestine, United Nations: Human Rights: Press Releases: Special Procedures (Sep. 23, 2025), https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-experts-call-suspension-israel-international-football-amid-unfolding.
[21] Institutional declaration by the President of the Government of Spain on the recognition of the State of Palestine, La Moncola (May 28, 2024), https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/presidente/news/paginas/2024/20240528-declaration-palestine.aspx.
[22] Spain calls for Israel, Russia to be banned from international sports competitions, Reuters (Sep. 15, 2025), https://www.reuters.com/sports/spain-calls-israel-russia-be-banned-international-sports-competitions-2025-09-15.
[23] Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA), X (Sep. 8, 2025, at 13:35 IST), https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1965001082217660749.
[24] Statement by Prime Minister Carney on Canada’s recognition of the State of Palestine, Prime Minister of Canada (Sep. 21, 2025), https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2025/09/21/statement-prime-minister-carney-on-canada-recognition-state-palestine[https://archive.is/oB2ff#selection-615.0-615.84].
[25] PM statement on the recognition of Palestine: 21 September 2025, GOV.UK (Sep. 21, 2025), https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-the-recognition-of-palestine-21-september-2025.
[26] Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron), X (Jul. 24, 2025, at 16:35 EDT), https://x.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1948482142356603089.
[27] See Institutional declaration by the President of the Government of Spain on the recognition of the State of Palestine, La Moncola (May 28, 2024), . https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/presidente/news/paginas/2024/20240528-declaration-palestine.aspx.
[28] James Moultrie, Israel-Premier Tech rebrand as NSN Cycling Team for 2026 season, will race under Swiss licence, CyclingNews (Nov. 20, 2025), https://www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cycling/teams-riders/israel-premier-tech-rebrand-as-nsn-cycling-team-for-2026-season-will-race-under-swiss-licence/.
[29] Ali Rampling and Henry Bushnell, Donald Trump administration working to stop Israel being banned from 2026 World Cup after UN plea, The Athletic: World Cup (Sep. 25, 2025),
[30] Simon Crerar, ICE Could Target World Cup Fans During Matches: White House Task Force Lead, Newsweek (Dec. 4, 2025, at 04:12 am EST), https://www.newsweek.com/sports/ice-could-target-world-cup-fans-11153280.