No stage winner and gaps taken before the finish - La Vuelta semi-neutralizes Bilbao finish due to protest concerns

Stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana will have a semi-neutralization. The riders will take on the final climbs of the stage but times will be taken at 3 kilometers away from the finish and there will be no stage winner due to the large amounts of anti-Israel protestors at the finish line in Bilbao.

Although organized protests are scheduled for several stages later in the week, there was a very large presence of anti-Israel protestors in the finishing straight in Bilbao, both before and after the finish line.

At the finish line, Daniel Friebe has taken pictures showing the reason for it, with the finishing straight covered in Palestinian flags, protesting the presence of Israel - Premier Tech in the Spanish Grand Tour. The road blocks and protestors putting themselves in front of the peloton or the Israeli team over the past few days (including stage 11 itself) is the likely reason, with large fears over protestors crossing the barriers in the finishing straight.

This was announced in the Radio Vuelta: "Due to some incidents at the finish line, we have decided to take the time at 3 kilometres before the line. We won't have a stage winner. We will give the points for the mountain classification and the intermediate sprint, but not on the finish line."