"You can see the aggression in their eyes" - Time trial favourite worried about safety of the stage

Stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana 2025 will take place this Thursday. It will be a 28-kilometer individual time trial in the city of Valladolid. For Dutch champion Daan Hoole this will be a great opportunity to leave a strong mark at this Vuelta and complete a double with a time trial victory at Giro earlier this year. But will he be able to compete? The threat of suspension of the stage is once again a real danger to the race because of the constant pro-Palestinian protests.

First victims of protests were the Israel - Premier Tech during the team time trial on stage 5. A group of protesters force the Israeli team to come to a nearly full stop. The riders' times were eventually adjusted artificially, but the damage was already done. Since then, there has been a snowball effect, and they are growing in number.

Daan Hoole himself has spoken out about them. The Lidl-Trek cyclist believes that the objective of the protests is being lost, and episodes are occurring that endanger the integrity of the riders due to the aggressiveness of the demonstrators.

"I must say that it's getting more and more hostile, and also more and more annoying (the situation). But it's getting worse, we simply can't hold a cycling race anymore. At first, it started with people with flags on the sides, which is fine. It's their right, of course, to demonstrate. But now it's getting more and more hostile and extreme," Hoole told NOS.

"We've already had several occasions where, cycling through hordes of people, you see the aggression in their eyes. Then you think, 'what can we do about it right now?' Sure, there's a team riding with the support of Israel, but for the rest of the peloton, the situation is getting very nasty," he added.

Finally, Daan Hoole wanted to send a message to the protesters to ask them to keep the protests on the side of the road, not inside it. That way the Vuelta a Espana could be finished and the message to the world would still be given:

"I'm not necessarily afraid, and I think it's everyone's right to protest. But it has to be safe and done correctly. I don't think it's the right way. I also don't quite understand why we have to suffer the consequences," the Lidl-Trek rider concluded.