To be funny, it was embarrassing: Belgian Jan Bakelants, once the leader of the Tour de France, had to apologize for lewd jokes in an interview for "Het Laatste Nieuws"
"Great apologies to everyone who offended my words in a humorous column. The words were wrong, "wrote the Bakelants, who on Saturday in Duesseldorf started his fifth Tour de France, and in 2013 even set up a leader's shirt at the start of the race. The director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, demanded an apology.
The box is really humorous, "Het Laatse Nieuws" asks a few questions for each of the 16 Belgian riders in this year's Tour. The bakelants have done their best.
"HLN": "When will you first call your parents?" Bakelants: "When I'm finished with a stock of pornos. Bring new ones. A joke!". "HLN": "Three weeks without sex, can you stand it?" Bakelants: "He will, especially with these pornos. And besides, there are girls with stage decorations. " "HLN": "What do you take with you for free time?". Bakelants: "A pack of condoms. You never know what girls have done before with decorations. " He apologized for not only the Belgian, but also his AG2R team, which goes second in the last year's Roman Bardet Tour.
In the cycling discussion has long been taking place, whether to abandon the habit of hiring hostesses, who during the post-stage decoration they hand out flowers and kiss the riders on the cheeks. This is not the first apology for the unruly behavior towards them, Peter Sagan also wanted to be funny once and pinched one of the hostess in the crotch on the podium race around Flanders.
Hostesses have been on the podiums of cycling races for decades. Once in the Tour de France came from the cities where the stage ended, today they are recruiting models agencies, and the Tour of hundreds of volunteers choose 20 hostess for the whole race. The kiss on the cheek is part of the ceremony, while hostess talks with riders are forbidden, and penalties threaten both parties. In 2003, Melanie Simmoneau was kicked out of the race for a post on the podium by American George Hincap. Simonneau is married to Hincapie today. On the podium of the Tour de France stage also began the acquaintance of another marriage: Laura Leturge and Geert Steegmans, winners of the second stage TdF 2007.