Giro dell’Emilia 2024 – 10t th Edition- Vignola- San luca, 216 km- Italy- 05-10-2024 in San Luca, Italy, October 05 2024. Photo: IPA/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
An Israeli cycling team has been excluded from an upcoming race in Bologna, Italy, because of security concerns regarding pro-Palestinian protests that might disrupt the competition if the team participates, organizers announced on Saturday.
Organizers of the Giro dell’Emilia street cycling race made the decision about the team Israel-Premier Tech after thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators repeatedly disrupted the final stage of the recent Vuelta a Espana race in Madrid, Spain, in protest of the team’s participation. Thousands of protesters clashed with police in Madrid and caused such widespread disruption to several parts of the race that organizers were forced to cut the race short and without a podium ceremony. The demonstrators said they targeted the Israeli team because of Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas terrorists who orchestrated the deadly attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Giro dell’Emilia is a one-day men’s race, held annually in the Bologna region of northern Italy, that is scheduled for Oct. 4. Israel-Premier Tech said in a released statement, obtained by The Algemeiner, that the team was told their invitation to join the race “has been withdrawn.”
“The organizers have cited security concerns linked to planned protests that threatened to disrupt the race,” the cycling team said. “We find it extremely regrettable that threats of violence have disrupted our sport. We wish the organizers a successful race.”
The move comes after pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police in Milan on Monday during a nationwide strike organized by trade unions in protest of Palestinians killed in Gaza during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Adriano Amici, president of the Giro dell’Emilia race, told AFP on Saturday that the Israeli team “will unfortunately not be present at our race” and that organizers made the decision “for reasons of public security.”
“The atmosphere is very tense. There’s too much danger for both the Israel Tech riders and others. The race’s final circuit is run five times, so the possibility of the race being disrupted is very high,” Amici explained. “It’s a decision I regret having to make from a sporting perspective, but I had no other choice for public safety.”
Bologna’s councilor for sport Roberta Li Calzi welcomed the decision. “We believe that sport is a vehicle of universal values of sharing, fair competition, solidarity between people,” he said on Saturday. “We are satisfied to learn that this opinion is shared by the organization of the race, which today officially confirmed to us that the Israeli team will not take part in the Giro dell’Emilia. I thank them for this sensitivity, which I believe is shared by a large part of our community.”
The councilor previously called for Israel-Premier Tech to be excluded from the race because of what he described as Israel’s “serious crimes against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli cycling team is co-owned by Israeli Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams and its main sponsor, Premier Tech, is a Quebec-based company. The team is registered in Israel and features the name of the country in their branding. Premier Tech announced recently that it expects the cycling team to change its name to exclude “Israel,” leading “to a new identity and branding for the team.” The team took part in the Giro dell’Emilia last year and their best-placed finisher was Canada’s Mike Woods in fourth place.
Earlier this month, organizers of the Spanish stage race O Gran Camiño said they will not invite Israel-Premier Tech to participate in its race next year. Local councils in Spain have already called for Israel-Premier Tech to be boycotted from next year’s Vuelta a España race in Gran Canaria as well as Tour de France’s Grand Depart in Barcelona. The president of the Gran Canaria council even threatened that the Spanish island will not host the final stages of the 2026 Vuelta if Israel participates in the race.
The president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body of cycling, insisted on Friday that the UCI will continue to allow Israeli athletes at its competitions despite pressure to exclude the Jewish state. David Lappartient was re-elected for his third, four-year term as UCI president at the UCI Congress on Thursday and made the comments about Israel while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, according to Reuters.
“It is perfectly normal for them to be here, because we believe — and I am speaking on behalf of the UCI, but I could almost say that these are also Olympic values — that sport is not a tool for punishment,” said Lappartient, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“The IOC has confirmed our position,” he noted. “We are not a tool for sanctions, we are a tool in the service of an ideal of bringing people together with the unifying power of sport, with the aim of promoting peace. And peace does not come through exclusion. So yes, Israeli athletes are welcome, just as Palestinian athletes are welcome when we host them at our competitions, just like all athletes from around the world. That is truly the power of the Olympic movement.”
He added: “We believe that no athlete should be deprived of the opportunity to participate in a competition.”
