Bizarre disqualification in China, where a Burgos rider is sent home for using emojis on Strava

In terms of UCI points, Burgos Burpellet BH is currently in 28th place in the battle for a spot among the top thirty teams, but a 2.2 race in China is also an excellent opportunity to collect points. However, this had to be done without Aparicio, who even had to surrender 10 UCI points due to his disqualification.

The reason? After the first stage, the Spaniard posted the stage on his Strava. The Chinese did not like the title. He placed a pig's head next to the Chinese flag, with “E1 tour mentougou” in front of it. The combination of emojis was not well-received by the organization.

"A Spanish cyclist posted inappropriate content on social media, combining the Chinese national flag with a pig’s head emoji, which led to huge controversy,” Ciclismo Internacional reports, citing a newspaper that, according to the media outlet, is controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“Some Chinese internet users living in Spain pointed out that the cyclist was trying to create an offensive association, as the word ‘cochina’ is often used as a derogatory term in Spanish. It was an insult to our country, " another newspaper reported.

According to Ciclismo Internacional, ‘some Chinese people resented Aparicio's action because they also checked his Strava account and saw that in other races he only displayed the flag, without a pig emoji’. Aparicio deleted the post, but could not avoid angry reactions.

"The post on his personal social media accounts constitutes an inappropriate comment that undermines sportsmanship, damages the image of the event, and has a negative social impact,” the organizers said in explaining the Spaniard’s disqualification.

In an interview with El Mundo, Burgos then defended his rider. Mario posted the pig emoji as a joke to his teammate, who had won the stage, something he did not mean maliciously and had nothing to do with the Chinese—just an unfortunate coincidence. But people saw it, took it out of context, and misinterpreted it because the Chinese flag appeared next to him,” he said.

“Then numerous comments were posted on his Strava profile and on Chinese social media, insulting the cyclist and even making death threats – a very bizarre situation,” the Spanish team continued. “After that, the organizers and the jury decided to disqualify the cyclist.”

“We spoke with them to explain what happened and to make it clear that there was no offensive intent towards China in the message and that it was just an unfortunate coincidence. The cyclist has since left the country and everything has been resolved,” said Burgos Burpellet BH.