The pro-Palestine protestor who invaded the finish line on stage 11 of the 2025 Tour de France in Toulouse has been handed a suspended €300 fine, but escaped with a warning.
As reported in regional French newspaper La Dépêche, the student was handed the punishment for trespassing at a sports venue after a hearing on Tuesday.
He was tackled after invading the finish area in Toulouse. The man, who had a t-shirt on that read "Israel out of the Tour", ran onto the Boulevard Lascrosses as Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) sprinted for victory, and was bundled into the barriers, without interacting with the riders. He was then arrested by French police. Abrahamsen won the stage.
Extinction Rebellion Toulouse claimed credit for the action, which aimed to "denounce the Tour de France's complicity in the genocide", according to the group, with criticism aimed at the inclusion of ProTeam Israel-Premier Tech in the race.
The 26-year-old activist told the court: "I made sure to check on the screen that the runners were far enough apart. I ran along the barriers to ensure that no one was injured. I used to be an athlete: I know how essential safety is...
"I wanted to denounce the fact that a team proclaiming itself an ambassador of Israel was allowed to participate in the Tour de France."
The prosecution said: "Bursting at full speed into a runner's field of vision is a real danger. Freedom of expression cannot take precedence over safety." It requested a €500 fine and a two-year ban from sports venues.
The lawyer for the defence, Claire Dujardin, said: "In Spain, the public can display banners and placards; in France, a symbolic gesture is penalised. My client did not disturb public order or the course of the race."
"Politically speaking, that objective [raising the message] was reached," the accused said. "The idea was to get people talking about the people of Gaza and what is going on there." He was found guilty and received a "warning", according to the judge.
It was not the only time that protest disrupted races in 2025. Israel-Premier Tech was targeted at the Vuelta a España, where four stages were shortened, including two where no winner was declared. It was then disinvited from October’s Giro dell’Emilia due to safety concerns. The team have announced that it will be rebranded for 2026.
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the United Nations, after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023 saw more than 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.
Separately, earlier this year, the man who rode across the finish line of stage 17 of the Tour de France and was promptly taken out by a policeman was handed an eight month suspended sentence. This was thought to be a publicity stunt rather than an act of protest.
