Madis Mihkels 87th in La Vuelta stage disrupted by pro-Palestine protests
Estonian cyclist Madis Mihkels finished a protest-shortened 16th stage of La Vuelta a Espana in 87th place on Tuesday.
Mihkels, who rides for the EF Education – EasyPost team, was a little over 16 minutes behind the stage winner and remains in 124th place overall, just over three hours behind the leader.
The 167.9 kilometer Poio – Mos. Castro de Herville stage in Pontevedra in the northwest of the country was halted 8 kilometers before the finish line after organizers announced that, due to a large protest action, the stage had to be ended early.
Around three kilometers before the original finish line, a large group of pro-Palestinian protesters had gathered, completely blocking the road.
This meant the final climb of the stage was not completed. Colombian rider Egan Bernal was declared stage winner with a time of 3:35:10.
Dane Jonas Vingegaard continues in the La Vuelta red leader's jersey.
The last grand tour event of the year, La Vuelta continues on Wednesday with a 143.2-kilometer stage from O Barco de Valdeorras to Alto de El Morredero. The riders are due to face one third-category climb, with the finish line at the top of an 8.8-kilometer first-category ascent.
This is not the first stage at this year's event to be disrupted by pro-Palestine protests. Stage 11, which took place a week ago, had to be abandoned altogether with no declared winner after protestors blocked cyclists, and other incidents had taken place before that. The Israel-Premier Tech team is one of the competitors.
La Vuelta runs until this Sunday.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
