A Spanish cyclist has been kicked outta the Tour of Mentougou in Beijing after a social media post triggered a fierce backlash in China.It unleashed accusations of disrespect and even death threats. The incident, first reported by El Mundo, has overshadowed what had been a strong showing by Spain’s Burgos Burpellet BH team.
The controversy centres on Mario Aparicio. He’s a 25-year-old rider from Aranda de Duero, who finished seventh in Sunday’s opening stage.
After the race, Aparicio shared a map of the route on social media. Annnnnd he added the Chinese flag, alongside an emoji of a pig’s head. The image was quickly deleted, but not before it circulated on Chinese platforms such as Weibo, where it was perceived by many users as a deliberate insult to China.
The controversy
According to the state-affiliated outlet The Paper, “a Spanish road cyclist posted inappropriate content on social media, juxtaposing the national flag of China with a pig’s head emoji. Sparking great controversy.” Other Chinese media outlets claimed that some users in Spain interpreted the post as invoking the term cochina. For the uniniated, that’s a pejorative in Spanish.
Within hours, race organizers issued a statement disqualifying Aparicio. “The publication on his personal social networks constitutes an inappropriate comment that violates the spirit of sport, damages the image of the event and has a negative social impact,” the Tour of Mentougou committee said. They added that his actions contravened event regulations and the sporting code of ethics.
The post was not popular on Chinese social media. One widely shared Weibo comment demanded “a public apology for his insult to China.” The uproar quickly escalated, and Aparicio reportedly faced a flood of abusive messages and death threats.
However, his team strongly rejected any malicious intent. “Mario posted the pig emoji as a joke towards the teammate who had won the stage, something without malice and unrelated to the Chinese people,” Burgos Burpellet told El Mundo. “It was an unfortunate coincidence. People misinterpreted it because the Chinese flag appeared alongside it.”
The team said they had explained the situation to organisers and confirmed Aparicio has already left the country. “There was no intention to offend China… The situation is resolved,” a statement added.
Well, glad that’s settled. Stage 2 goes down on Wednesday.
Despite the scandal, Burgos Burpellet completed the race successfully, with Clément Alleno securing overall victory ahead of teammates García Pierna and Antonio Angulo.
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