La Vuelta a España continued on Wednesday without major incidents: there weren't many protests, likely because it was a mountainous stage in a less populated area, in the Morredero mountains, in León, a land ravaged by fire last August. The Italian Giulio Pellizzari won the stage, with barely anything changed in the General Classification (Jonas Vingegaard still leads with 50 seconds ahead of Joao Almeida).
Thursday's stage, however, will be very different. It will be a urban time trial, around Valladolid, and big crowds are expected to protest against the participation of Israel-Premier Tech. With Jonas Vingegaard holding 50 seconds ahead of Joao Almeida, most experts think it's now or never for the Portuguese.
However, the time-trial will be much shorter than initially expected: from 27.2 km, to 12.2 km. "With the aim of providing greater protection for the stage, the La Vuelta organizers, in coordination with the Valladolid City Council and after consulting with the College of Commissioners, have decided that tomorrow's time trial will be held over a 12.2 km route, maintaining the start and finish initially planned", the organisers said in a statement.
The first rider will start at 14:35, and the final one, Vingegaard, will start at 17:17.
Riders will decide if they want to continue with the race
Meanwhile, it will be cyclist who will decide if they go all the way to Madrid, on Sunday. All 23 teams voted on Wednesday's morning if they wanted to continue with the race or not, given the danger these protest have on cyclist (one rider, Javier Romo, had to withdrew after crashing when a protester aimed to jump into the road).
They decided to continue with the race, but agreed that they will stop if there are serious incidents in the remaining stages. Valladolid's time trial will be a critical moment, but in preparation, Madrid has already brought in over 1,000 police officers for Sunday's final stage.
