2023-08-29 16:58:48
Decidedly, this edition of the Vuelta contains its share of surprises. During the third, disputed on Monday, it was a pipe, installed on a bridge over a road, connected to a canister of liquid. This is the mechanism installed by four Catalan separatists, who were arrested on Saturday, suspected of having tried to sabotage the Tour of Spain cycling.
With this mechanism they intended to sabotage yesterday’s stage of #LaVuelta23
????????Two drums with 400 liters of liquid that they intended to throw on the road as the squad passed by
????????Four people arrested red-handed in #Lleida pic.twitter.com/pzEZpILBZ6
– National Police (@police) August 29, 2023
The group were arrested in the woods near Suria, in the north-eastern region of Catalonia as they were about to spill 400 liters of a “liquid similar to motor oil”, contained in two drums, on the road, the national police said in a statement on Tuesday.
They call the Vuelta, passing through Catalonia, “colonialist”
The suspects are supporters of Catalan independence, according to far-left separatist group Alerta Solidaria on X (formerly Twitter), which fiercely opposed the Vuelta’s passage through the region, calling it “colonialist”. The drums and the pipe that connected them to the highway “were hidden in vegetation, making them difficult to detect,” the statement added. The targeted section was taken on Monday during the third stage of the Vuelta, a 158.5 kilometer route linking Suria to Arinsal in Andorra.
The four men were indicted for membership of a criminal group, disturbing public order and crimes against the environment. They left free after appearing in court but were prohibited from approaching the roads taken by the route of the cycle race, their lawyer Eva Pous told the Catalan media.
Along with the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta is one of the prestigious Grand Tours of cycling. This is the 78th edition of the race, which will end in Madrid on September 17 after 21 stages and 3,153.8 kilometers. This third stage crowned Belgian champion Remco Evenepoel on Monday, who won at the finish against the winner of the Tour de France Jonas Vingegaard. He fell at the finish, hitting a healer, and finished the stage with a bloody face. The first stage, a team time trial, was marked by terrible weather conditions and numerous crashes.
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