“A completely new phenomenon,” says Christian Prudhomme, boss of the Tour de France

The large 2026 loop should start from Barcelona on July 4.

While Propalestinian demonstrations marked the 2025 edition of the Vuelta, Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, reacted on Tuesday September 16. “We are in a completely new phenomenon”he estimated about these demonstrations which have repeatedly led to disturbances on the stages, including the arrival in Madrid, arrested more than 50 kilometers from the line. Thousands of demonstrators protested there “Zionist genocide” in Gaza and participation in the test of the Israel Premier Tech team.

“Road cycling races, they are subject to the upheavals of life, in general, forever”estimated Christian Prudhomme, during a round table at the French Embassy in Berlin, on the occasion of the release of a book on the Tour de France. “Road cycling is in life, it feels more than elsewhere in a closed stadium what is happening on a daily basis. The strength of the trials usually is precisely that people do not want them to be disturbed. Here, we are in a completely new phenomenon, “said Christian Prudhomme.

The director of the Tour de France recalled that the Grande Boucle mobilizes 28,000 police and gendarmes each year, while the big departure of the Tour de France 2026 must be given in Barcelona, ​​with the first three stages on Spanish soil. Municipal councilor for sports in Barcelona, ​​David Escudé, for his part, said, hoped that the Israel Premier Tech team is not at the start of the Tour de France 2026.

“We want the teams that run under the Israeli flag, as happened with Russia, stop competing under this flag. It is not only cycling, a popular sport accessible to the public, but there must be restrictions in all international events for the teams that participate under the Israeli flag”, called David Escudé in the show “Good day, Barcelona” of the radio Betevéwhere he also called the Olympic Committee and the other sports institutions in “Do not close your eyes”. He thus follows the path taken by the Spanish government, which has expressed itself several times in favor of the demonstrators, like the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who entrusted his “Admiration for a people like the Spanish people who mobilize for just causes, like that of Palestine”.