Willie Smit DQed from Tour of Magnificent Qinghai over camera glasses
Former WorldTour pro Willie Smit, now riding at the Continental level for China Anta-Mentech, was disqualified from the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai over his use of camera glasses. Smit said on social media that he had not realized that a recent UCI rule had gone into effect banning their use, while also suggesting that it was an extreme measure to kick him out of the race, especially considering the use of on-bike cameras for blogging purposes at the Tour de France.
"Today I was disqualified for the first time in my cycling career (14 years), for wearing glasses that record video. Unfortunately I was not aware of a new rule that was implemented in April that prohibited this," he wrote on X. "A warning, fine or yellow card could have also been enough. But what I struggle to understand is why In the Tour de France can you quite literally vlog with a camera in your hand which is perfectly legal...but because the camera is in the glasses you get an automatic Disqualification?! Yes, If I knew about the rule I would have also never posted it on social media. Anyways, I'll take it on the chin. Here is the video that got me disqualified & the other video is just to show what is completely allowed it seems. And lastly, my glasses have absolutely no AI capabilities unless used with a phone. So on the bike it can do nothing but record video!" [X]
