Israel-Premier Tech will not be racing Italy’s Giro dell’Emilia on Saturday 4 October due to safety concerns, race organisers have said.
“Unfortunately, Israel-Premier Tech will not be at the start of our race. We had to make this decision for reasons of public safety,” race organiser Adriano Amici told AFP, on their decision to withdraw the team’s invitation to the race.
Tensions have been growing in Italy in response to Israel’s continued war on Gaza. Italian dockworkers in Genoa and Livorno blocked ports suspected to be used for the transfer of arms to Israel, as mass pro-Palestine protests spread across the country last week. Dockworkers have further threatened Israel with a total block on tradeshould the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international convoy of 50 boats heading to Gaza to deliver aid, be attacked by Israeli drones. Nationwide strikes were also carried out on Monday, causing the closure of schools and disruption to transport.
The race, set to take place in Bologna on 4 October, has a winding course from Mirandola towards the mountainous Apennines, before tackling four lapped climbs of the San Luca circuit in Bologna. The arrival city’s local government had called for Israel-Premier Tech’s exclusion from the race, due to Israel’s “serious crimes against the civilian population in the Gaza strip”.
In response to the removal of the team form the Italian race, Bologna’s sport councillor, Roberta Li Calzi, said: “Given what is happening in Gaza it would have been hypocritical to consider the presence of a team linked to this [Israeli] government as insignificant.”
The Giro dell’Emilia is not alone in its decision to exclude Israel Premier Tech from its start-line, with the O Gran Camiño stage race in Spain having already revoked the team’s invitation to the race next year,
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