No disrespect intended to Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and the other GC contenders in the 2025 Vuelta a España, but during its three tumultuous weeks in Spain this autumn, there were many points when their battle for victory felt like the least of anybody's concerns. Whether the Vuelta could actually continue to be held was a rather more pressing matter.
In fact, as pro-Palestine demonstrations mushroomed from the relatively tiny kernel of half a dozen people running onto the road in front of Israel-Premier Tech during the stage 5 team time trial to Figueres to the 100,000 protesters demanding the squad's exclusion in the final stage, more often than not, nobody could be sure of what would happen in the next hours, let alone days. While the organisers insisted 'there is no Plan B' to finishing in Madrid, with constant stage route alterations to dodge or limit the impact of the protests and 'Will the Vuelta continue?' headlines repeatedly appearing in the media, Plans C, D, E and F were very much in demand throughout.
