{"id":209968,"date":"2025-10-19T01:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T01:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209968\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T01:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T01:03:11","slug":"spanish-rider-banned-for-life-from-china-after-strava-post-sparks-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209968\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish rider banned for life from China after Strava post sparks outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Tour of Mentougou drama from earlier this week continues.<\/p>\n<p>A Spanish cyclist was expelled from China and handed a lifetime entry ban on Tuesday. This happened after a controversial post on Strava ignited fury among local fans, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elcorreo.com\/deportes\/ciclismo\/expulsan-ciclista-espanol-carrera-poner-icono-cerdo-20251015100833-nt.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">El Correo<\/a>. Mario Aparicio, a 25-year-old rider with Burgos BH, was removed from the race after he posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/spanish-rider-kicked-out-of-chinese-race-after-really-stupid-emoji\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pig icon next to the Chinese flag<\/a> on his Strava post of the stage. It did not sit well with locals. Not one bit.<\/p>\n<p>The incident occurred after Stage 1 of the three-day race. The post was quickly deleted. However, the Internet is forever, as we all know. So, screenshots circulated widely on Chinese social media, leading to a big ole wave of condemnation. Organizers deemed the gesture a breach of \u201ctournament regulations and the code of sporting ethics,\u201d and immediately disqualified Aparicio.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burgosstrava.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-130305\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/burgosstrava.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1488\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sources cited by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elcorreo.com\/deportes\/ciclismo\/expulsan-ciclista-espanol-carrera-poner-icono-cerdo-20251015100833-nt.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">El Correo<\/a> say Chinese authorities escalated the matter, issuing a permanent ban that prevents Aparicio not only from racing, but even going through Chinese airports. The sanction could be a bit of a pain on his racing schedule. Asia hosts several key late-season races on the UCI calendar.<\/p>\n<p>Burgos BH told <a href=\"https:\/\/amp.elmundo.es\/deportes\/ciclismo\/2025\/10\/14\/68eded14fdddffe8678b4585.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">El Mundo<\/a> the post was meant as an inside joke aimed at a teammate who had won the stage. The team insisted there was no insult intended toward China or its people. The team also claims Aparicio received \u201cnumerous death threats\u201d following the uproar.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the controversy, Burgos BH went on to dominate the race. Carlos Garc\u00eda Pierna secured overall victory. He was joined on the final podium by teammates Cl\u00e9ment Alleno and Antonio Angulo, with Jos\u00e9 Luis Faura finishing sixth.<\/p>\n<p>Whether Aparicio will face any disciplinary action from the UCI or his team remains to be seen. It\u2019s also unclear if he or the team intends\u2013or even can, appeal the ban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tour of Mentougou drama from earlier this week continues. A Spanish cyclist was expelled from China and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[90458,891,4985,90459,101,90460,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-209968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-burgos-bh","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-mario-aparicio","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tour-of-mentougou","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}