“I feel manipulated" - Perico Delgado hits out at coverage of his comments on Israel and Palestine at the Vuelta a Espana

Pedro Delgado, winner of the 1988 Tour de France and one of the most recognisable voices in cycling, has called for calm and perspective following the controversy sparked by his comments on TVE about the pro-Palestinian protests that affected the most recent edition of the 2025 Vuelta a Espana, which opposed the presence of an Israeli team.

Delgado addressed the issue on Thursday during a public appearance at a traditional chainless bicycle race.

Delgado said he remains composed about the situation and argued for a reduction in social tension. “I’m calm. What happens is that we live in a society where we look for confrontations where there aren’t any,” he said, before adding that he feels his words have been used within the wider debate. “I feel manipulated, and I think people should also feel manipulated.”

In that context, he pointed to time as a calming influence. “We need a little bit of peace and calm, and I think time fortunately gives us that.”

Beyond the controversy, Delgado also assessed the current state of professional cycling, which he believes is defined by a very clear hierarchy. He pointed to the clear superiority of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard over the rest of the peloton and predicted that both will once again dominate attention at the Grand Tours.

“In this competitive cycling landscape, there is a monster, which is Pogacar, and then another, Vingegaard, who is one step below. But after that, the rest are two or three steps behind,” Delgado said.

Along the same lines, he said that both riders will once again be the main focus at the Grand Tours, while noting that the picture changes in other types of races. In the Classics, he said, there are more alternatives, contributing to a more dynamic spectacle.

Delgado also highlighted the attacking approach of both riders and their teams. “Modern cycling is spectacular because Pogacar and Vingegaard are riders whose teams attack from a long way out. It keeps the race alive not in the final kilometre, but over the last two hours.”

Delgado also commented on the recently presented route for the next Vuelta a España, offering a clearly positive assessment. He said the course maintains the traditional identity of the race and reinforces its demanding nature.

“It’s a route that I like. I think it reflects the identity of the Vuelta a Espana, with nervous stages and lots of summit finishes,” he said. Among the examples he mentioned was the finish at Aitana, and he placed particular emphasis on the end of the race, describing the final stage in Granada as “spectacular”.

Delgado also focused on the figures and the accumulated difficulty of the route, comparing it with the other Grand Tours. “For those who like the numbers, in terms of metres of elevation gain, which defines the mountains, it has more than the Giro and the Tour de France next year,” he said, before concluding: “So we can say that it is the toughest of the three Grand Tours that will be raced in 2026.”