{"id":2044097,"date":"2026-07-14T14:25:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044097"},"modified":"2026-07-14T14:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:25:03","slug":"smart-glasses-just-got-a-pro-cyclist-nixed-from-a-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044097","title":{"rendered":"Smart Glasses Just Got a Pro Cyclist Nixed From a Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vanguard-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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There are lots of ways to get disqualified from a cycling race, but until recently, wearing the wrong glasses was not one of them. This is 2026, though, and \u201cthe wrong glasses\u201d can actually mean smart glasses loaded with a camera, speakers, and AI, and that distinction is increasingly swaying people\u2019s opinions.<\/p>\n

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Just ask professional cyclist Willie Smit, who recently took to social media to chronicle his disqualification from a race for wearing what appears to be Oakley Meta smart glasses. According to Smit, this is his first disqualification in 14 years of cycling, and he was unaware, before starting the race, of a rule passed in April prohibiting the use of smart glasses while racing. I can\u2019t say for sure whether Smit was actually<\/em> unaware, but given the fact that the cyclist posted POV footage from the glasses on social media after the race, I\u2019m going to choose to believe his claim to ignorance.<\/p>\n

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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. A warning, fine or yellow card could have also been enough. But what\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/II7nRUPKsE<\/p>\n

\u2014 Willie Smit (@williesmurfy) July 12, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While Smit appears to have only been using smart glasses to chronicle the race from the on-board cameras, the use of smart glasses in sports\u2014and the opportunity for misuse\u2014is more complex than just a recording problem. India\u2019s most popular cricket league, for example, banned smart glasses as an anti-cheating measure, since players could theoretically use them to communicate with people off-field and place real-time bets, increasing the chances that someone might throw the game.<\/p>\n

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\"Meta
Smit doesn\u2019t specify which Oakley glasses he was wearing, but if I had to guess, it was the Oakley Meta Vanguard. \u00a9 James Pero \/ Gizmodo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cycling, theoretically, could run into a similar problem with riders wearing smart glasses, and that\u2019s not even weighing the ethics of how smart glasses could be used to enhance performance. I\u2019m not going to pretend to be a cycling expert, but any device that could theoretically coach athletes how to race better (an idea that\u2019s not totally outlandish based on current capabilities) should probably be regulated in some way to keep the playing field level.<\/p>\n

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With all of that said, Smit also has a solid point, which is that riders in the Tour de France, for example, have been vlogging their race from handheld cameras for some time. But\u00a0things change when the camera leaves your hand and lives on your face\u2014trust deteriorates, and for good reason. When someone is pointing a camera at the world or themselves, you know (to a reasonable degree of certainty) what they\u2019re doing. When it\u2019s self-contained and discreet on someone\u2019s face, though, things get a lot more opaque.<\/p>\n

Either way, it seems like sports is destined to be another arena where wearing smart glasses is actually a stupid idea\u2014at least if you actually care about winning.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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There are lots of ways to get disqualified from a cycling race, but until recently, wearing the wrong glasses was not one of them. This is 2026, though, and \u201cthe wrong glasses\u201d can actually mean smart glasses loaded with a camera, speakers, and AI, and that distinction is increasingly swaying people\u2019s opinions.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Just ask professional cyclist Willie Smit, who recently took to social media to chronicle his disqualification from a race for wearing what appears to be Oakley Meta smart glasses. According to Smit, this is his first disqualification in 14 years of cycling, and he was unaware, before starting the race, of a rule passed in April prohibiting the use of smart glasses while racing. I can\u2019t say for sure whether Smit was actually<\/em> unaware, but given the fact that the cyclist posted POV footage from the glasses on social media after the race, I\u2019m going to choose to believe his claim to ignorance.<\/p>\n

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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. A warning, fine or yellow card could have also been enough. But what\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/II7nRUPKsE<\/p>\n

\u2014 Willie Smit (@williesmurfy) July 12, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While Smit appears to have only been using smart glasses to chronicle the race from the on-board cameras, the use of smart glasses in sports\u2014and the opportunity for misuse\u2014is more complex than just a recording problem. India\u2019s most popular cricket league, for example, banned smart glasses as an anti-cheating measure, since players could theoretically use them to communicate with people off-field and place real-time bets, increasing the chances that someone might throw the game.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Meta
Smit doesn\u2019t specify which Oakley glasses he was wearing, but if I had to guess, it was the Oakley Meta Vanguard. \u00a9 James Pero \/ Gizmodo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cycling, theoretically, could run into a similar problem with riders wearing smart glasses, and that\u2019s not even weighing the ethics of how smart glasses could be used to enhance performance. I\u2019m not going to pretend to be a cycling expert, but any device that could theoretically coach athletes how to race better (an idea that\u2019s not totally outlandish based on current capabilities) should probably be regulated in some way to keep the playing field level.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

With all of that said, Smit also has a solid point, which is that riders in the Tour de France, for example, have been vlogging their race from handheld cameras for some time. But\u00a0things change when the camera leaves your hand and lives on your face\u2014trust deteriorates, and for good reason. When someone is pointing a camera at the world or themselves, you know (to a reasonable degree of certainty) what they\u2019re doing. When it\u2019s self-contained and discreet on someone\u2019s face, though, things get a lot more opaque.<\/p>\n

Either way, it seems like sports is destined to be another arena where wearing smart glasses is actually a stupid idea\u2014at least if you actually care about winning.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vanguard-1200×675.jpg”] There are lots of ways to get disqualified from a cycling race, but until recently, wearing the wrong glasses was not one of them. This is 2026, though, and \u201cthe wrong glasses\u201d can actually mean smart glasses loaded with a camera, speakers, and AI, and that distinction is increasingly swaying people\u2019s opinions. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-2044097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2044097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2044097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2044097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2044097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}