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Spanish police stated Tuesday that they had arrested 4 males suspected of plotting to sabotage the 2023 Vuelta a España by pouring oil on a stretch of freeway the cyclists had been due to make use of.
Officers detained the 4 on Saturday in a wooded space close to the city of Suria within the northeastern area of Catalonia, simply as they ready to launch 400 liters (88 gallons) of “a liquid much like motor oil” from two drums onto the street, Spain’s Nationwide Police stated in an announcement.
The drums and a hose that stretched from them to the freeway “had been hidden amongst the vegetation, making it tough to detect,” the assertion added.
The third stage of the Vuelta on Monday — a 158.5-kilometer (98.5-mile) journey from Suria to Arinsal in Andorra — included that stretch of the freeway.
It was gained by reigning champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium.
The 4 suspects are supporters of Catalan independence, in accordance with far-left Catalan pro-independence group Alerta Solidaria, which fiercely opposes the passage of the Vuelta by means of the area, calling it “colonialist.”
They’ve been charged with membership in a felony group, public dysfunction and environmental offences.
The 4 appeared earlier than a courtroom on Monday in Solsana, which launched them however banned them from going withing 500 meters of roads alongside which the cycle race was to go because it goes by means of Catalonia, their lawyer Eva Pous informed Catalan media.
Together with the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta is one in all biking’s prestigious Grand Excursions.
That is the 78th version of the race and ends in Madrid on Sept. 17 after 21 phases and three,153.8 kilometers.
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