A group of tourists waited for the explanations of their guide next to the church of the Jeronyms outside of what happened a few meters below, between Neptune and Cibeles. The return ended in an abrupt way. The more than 1,800 police and civil guard agents that tried to guarantee security, to which another 700 were added between agents of the Municipal Police and mobility, They were insufficient To contain the masses that cut the passage to the cyclists.
They are vindicated as peaceful protests, but before the stage began the organization already had to Close the Fan Zone for security problems. And after the stage came out of the road to the capital the intensity of the attacks on the return continued to grow.
The organization tried to avoid incidents by avoiding passing through the urban centers of the intermediate locations as it had happened on Saturday in Cercedilla, when a crowd encouraged by former minister Irene Montero and the leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, cut the passage of cyclists. But in the center of Madrid it contains the enraged and irrational mass became impossible.
The demolition of fences began in Callao and continued in Atochathe southern end of the circuit that the runners had to complete through the center of the capital as tribute and end of the party. The circuit was modified on the fly until it was reduced to a walk between Neptune and Columbus.
Multitude of Palestinian flags; T -shirts and banners with watermelons and kufiyas, the traditional Palestinian handkerchief, looked parade from hours before Cibeles. “Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people” It was one of the screams that accompanied the traditional “free Palestine” and “it is not a war, it is a genocide.” Police tanks were prepared to try to contain protesters. Impossible.
The alleged peaceful protest had already destroyed the circuit in Callao and Atocha. The other visibility point of the protests according to the summons should be the Paseo de la Ermita del Santo. Before getting there, the return to Spain ended.
Protesters with a banner that said “below the state of Israel” They managed to stop some cyclists and then the organization stopped them all At the height of the Moro Campo Jardines, when there were 56 kilometers left for the end of the race. The cyclists threw foot and the return ended up abruptly. The cyclists had already warned after the fall that forced Javi Romo to retire that the next episode of violence would be the last. And so it was. The runners stopped and the organization with them. Security has always been the most important thing for Javier Guillén, the director of the race, and for Unipublic, the organizing company.
It was impossible to reach the center of the capital. The sprint was suspended and also the podium ceremony in Cibeles. The streets that had to occupy the bicycles were “outdated” by protesters who have turned the protests against the presence of the Israel team into the race in a protest against the return. The authorities, among which was the prince Alberto de MonacoThey were evicted from the area immediately. The Principality will host the departure of the race in 2026.
All members of the career caravan, whether cyclists, team cars or the organization have received insults, screams of “murderer” and releases of all kinds of objects during the race. The stage that ended in Bilbao was the beginning of the end, the effect called was multiplied by the success of the protest and the organization learned to be prepared for the following events. He reacted on time in Mos, where the protesters had gone through the trunk of a tree on the road 30 kilometers from the finish line, as well as the road to the world and Madrid,
Shouts and protests that have multiplied in Madrid. With the race already suspended, the protesters did not abandon the area. Many, the peaceful ones, climbed on Alcalá Street with their flags and their scarves. Others, the most violent, stayed in the streets. The protection fences were only a memory, scrap for scrapping and the step was free.
The police were prepared to contain the attacks and had to make some loads and shoot rubber balls. Suddenly, you could see a stampede of protesters tried to leave the conflict zone. The indications were settled with 22 injured police officers and two detained protesters.
The return is unfinished upon arrival in Madrid. In 1978, in the years of lead, the last stage had to be neutralized in its first sector, between Durango and San Sebastián, because some trunks crossed the road and the second sector, an individual counterreloj through the streets of San Sebastián, had to be suspended. This is the second time the final stage of the race is canceled.
While the protesters were evicting the zero zone, other people camped in the gardens next to the Paseo del Prado as if it were a normal Sunday. A field and violence.