>the owner clarifies: "Fake news. We will never ride without the name Israel."
>"We had two extremely difficult days in the Basque Country. The region is known as a stronghold of far-left activists and separatists who like to protest. They are not our friends, that's for sure. I remind you that in the 1960s and 1970s, the Basque underground ETA operated and formed an alliance with the PLO. We were not surprised by this unfriendly welcome, and yet I have never seen anything like this in a cycling race. A huge and disproportionate number of flags and signs for Palestine and against the State of Israel and enormous amounts of hatred."
>"In an unusual move, I decided to sit in the team car for the first time to monitor what was happening and make a decision in an extreme case. It was important to me to be there for the riders, some of whom feel threatened. They poured paint on our car, and at the end of the stage you all saw the rioters pushing the barriers and trying to break into the track. The decision not to compete in the last 3 km was the right one. It was not safe for the riders. The police tried to do their best in my opinion. I call this violent group terrorists because they are violent people. In the end, they destroyed all the fans' bikes. The Basques have the best fans in the world and it's a shame it ended like this."
>"The CEO of ASO, Jan Le Monner (the company that organizes the Valletta), also asked to remove the team from the race, but I told them that I was not going to do that. If we give up, it's not just the end of our team, but of all the other teams. Tomorrow they will demonstrate against the teams from Bahrain, the UAE and Astana. There is no end to the boycotts. I told them that they were wrong and that we had the right to stay. I also received overwhelming support from the president of the International Cycling Union, David Laporte.