When pro-Palestine protestors forced the early abandonment of the Vuelta a España’s final stage in September – the fourth stage of the race to be curtailed – it triggered a chain reaction. In the weeks that followed, Israel-Premier Tech, the focus of the protests, backtracked on earlier assurances and announced a new name and nationality, accepting that their future in the sport was untenable without change. The immediate consequence, however, was the cancellation of the podium ceremony for the GC top-three and the jersey winners.
Race victor Jonas Vingegaard was understandably peeved. “Yeah, it’s shit to end it like this,” he muttered inside a Visma-Lease a Bike car, in footage later shown in the team’s post-race documentary. It seemed as though everyone would simply drift away – an anticlimactic conclusion to 21 tense, turbulent days.
