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Organizers of the Vuelta a España are counting the cost of their controversial collaboration with online influencer Erola Jons.
Jons, a Spanish content creator with an online reach of more than six million, was hired by the Vuelta a España this summer to bring the race to a newer, younger audience.
The 29-year-old has been acting as a roving “back-stage” TV reporter for the race and is leading a series of post-stage YouTube features.
However a viral video of Jons hassling Tadej Pogačar after he won stage 1 in Monaco sparked backlash across social media and even on Spanish TV broadcasts.
‘Pogacita’ goes viral
In Saturday’s video, Jons is hunting after some juicy content with Pogačar as he prepares for the post-stage presentations.
She approaches a changing area in the enclosure behind the podium while Pogcačar is being zipped into his first red jersey of La Vuelta.
“Why do you hyperventilate every time you see me,” she shouts toward him, before Pogačar’s UAE Emirates-XRG press chief steps in to ask her to wait for an interview.
Jons wasn’t deterred.
She again approaches Pogačar as he climbs out of the changing area and walks toward the podium.
“Pogachita congratulations! Why do you hyperventilate every time you see me?” she asks.
Pogačar is clearly perplexed by the intrusion. The area behind the podium is typically an oasis of relative calm that’s kept clear of media reporters.
“What? What is that?” Pogačar asks Jons.
“I breathe 24/7,” he says, before walking off.
The interaction was subsequently clipped up and spread across social media.
Only the commentary will not have been of the type that Vuelta organizers hoped for. [The clip can be viewed at the bottom of this post – ed.]
Feeds were filled with debate over the level of access Jons was granted, the nature of her content, and her presentation of the sport.
“Grotesque,” “disgrace,” and “embarrassment” are some of the first comments on the controversial clip hosted on the Vuelta a España’s YouTube channel.
Pogačar one of many caught off-guard at the Vuelta a España
Jons is one of the leading online influencers in Spain. She boasts three million followers on Instagram and a similar number on Tik Tok.
According to Marca, she built her online empire through hidden-camera pranks that have since become her trademark. She surprise-approaches random men in public and bemuses them with random, sexually charged questions.
Jons also owns a skincare brand and is a regular feature at red carpet celebrity events.
Spain’s online sensation appears to have brought her wildly successful content strategy to her new role at the Vuelta.
Her roving reports have been led by off-key comments unrelated to the race. Many of them appear to be without knowledge of the racing context nor the characters she speaks to.
For example, minutes before the “Pogachita” interaction on Saturday, Jons approaches a Netcompany Ineos soigneur while he waits for Josh Tarling. The big Welshman just rocketed to third-place on the stage.
“You are here to distract the journalists? Are you here to win, or to distract me?” she asks the staffer. “Because you’re cute, you know?”
Marca reports she continued in a similar tone while she stalked after Pogačar.
“I’m going to ask him if he’s that fast in private too,” she laughs to the camera.
She later continues:
“Look at him, who would guess he’s ridden 200km?”she said, referring to the day’s 9km TT.
“I don’t know how this guy is doing in the general classification, but in mine he’s first.”
Jons sparks backlash: ‘A lack of respect’
It didn’t take long for Jons’ content to catch attention online and spread to the inner workings of the sporting media.
Prominent Eurosport journalist Laura Meseguer called out the Vuelta for the hire of an influencer whose content is so far removed from the sport.
“The matter is serious,” Meseguer wrote. “To summarize. Many women have been fighting for years to expand our space in a male sport, so that we are treated with respect and have the same opportunities as others.
“It is a serious skip that a person with no knowledge of the sport is hired whose content will be based on this series of sexist comments from which women have been fleeing for centuries!!!
“It is a lack of respect for us, for the professionals who are here and especially for the cyclists. No one has to put up with being treated as an object, neither women nor men,” Mesegeur wrote.
Later Sunday, RTVE’s Vuelta a España commentator Carlos de Andrés voiced his support for Meseguer.
Speaking live on the Spanish channel’s race broadcast, he branded the video “ridiculous” and called on the race to rethink its new hire.
“The fact that they want to hire an influencer is fine by me, but they have to be careful, especially considering what women have fought for to prevent these kinds of sexist comments,” De Andrés said. “I hope the organization reacts.”
Velo reached out to the Veulta a España for comment on Monday. Their response is documented in a follow-up post here.
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