AG2R-La Mondiale rider Jan Bakelants has apologised for “inappropriate” remarks he made about Tour de France podium hostesses in an interview with Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, but says they were made in a light-hearted way.
As we reported yesterday, the 31-year-old, who wore the yellow jersey of Tour de France leader after winning Stage 2 of the 2013 race on Corsica, was asked what he planned to take along for his free moments during this year’s race.
> Porn and podium hostesses – former yellow jersey reveals Tour de France survival strategy
In reply, he said: “A packet of condoms, for sure. You never know where those podiummissen [podium hostesses] hang out!”
His comments led to Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme asking that the Belgian rider say sorry.
He said: “We will contact his team so that he makes an apology.”
Prior to Bakelants excusing himself on Twitter this morning, his AG2R-La Mondiale team told Reuters: “We have seen this interview and the answers of Jan Bakelants, who certainly wanted to be humorous, but in the present case it was very bad taste.
“We apologise to the organisers and to those who may have been offended by this remark.”
My sincerest apologies to all those offended by my words in a so called humouristic itw. My words have been inappropriate.
— Jan Bakelants (@Jan_Bakelants) June 29, 2017
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
7 thoughts on “Jan Bakelants apologises for podium hostess comments”
not another helmet debate…
not another helmet debate…
At least he didn’t say
At least he didn’t say anything really offensive – like he was going to use disc brakes.
Typical sexist nonsense. If
Typical sexist nonsense. If he’s have said something about men, there would have been no apology….
Bigtwin wrote:
Typical sexist nonsense.
Toast wrote:
Typical sexist nonsense. If he’d have said something about men, there would have been no apology….
— Toast Typical sexist nonsense.— Bigtwin
Typical sexist nonsense.
OMG. We’re in some Faustian existentialist time-slip loop. See what those wo/men have done now!
RESULT! Another one in the
RESULT! Another one in the eye for the anti-PC Brigade!
I can’t wait for this story
I can’t wait for this story to reach the editorial offices of the reactionary hate rags…
Reporter: There’s this story that’s been on the Internet for a day or two. An athlete has been castigated for unpolitically-correct comments.
Editor: The man’s a hero!
Reporter: Oh, but he is a cyclist.
Editor: Quick, hack his phone, we’ve got muck to rake!
Reporter: Hold on, he has annoyed some feminists.
Editor: Get him in, we’ll do a puff piece!
Reporter: He’s foreign.
Editor: Oh well, we tried.