The presence of Israel – Premier Tech at the Giro d’Italia has seen a group of protesters get in the way of the riders in the finale of stage 6 into Napoli. Whilst some, like the breakaway duo Taco van der Hoorn and Enzo Paleni were directly affected by the absurd blocking of the road, others were left wandering why the peloton had suddenly swerved. Wout van Aert was astonished to find what the rationale for that was.
“The peloton suddenly made some strange movements from left to right. But I didn’t know why”, van Aert recalls in an interview with Sporza. “I hadn’t seen the demonstrators with my own eyes. So I was shocked when I saw the images afterwards. It was insane. I’m just glad they weren’t glued to the ground.”
A 67-year-old man was arrested following the incident in which two protestors placed a tube in front of the breakaway riders. He then stood right next to the full-speed peloton barely 2 kilometres from the finish line, nearly causing others to crash directly behind it. Spectator footage has shown the magnitude of the protestor’s activities, which have outraged the cycling community.
“People are watching with amazement. But as riders, we have little influence on it. In a big city like Napoli, you should put up fences everywhere. But those people aren’t deterred by a police motorcyclist riding 100 meters ahead of the peloton. So they would have jumped over the fences too,” the Belgian argues.
“I hope they arrest these people and that they come to their senses. We, riders, can only condemn this behavior.”