A race promotion poster featuring the hand of a rider reaching to grab the bottom of a hostess whose skirt was raised has landed Belgian cycling authorities in hot water.
Equality groups branded the poster, promoting next month's E3 Harelbeke race as 'sexist' and it has since been removed. The poster asked that who squeezes them in Harelbeke.
The advertising campaign plays on the infamous moment when cyclist Peter Sagan decided to grope podium girl Maja Leye's bottom as she planted the obligatory winner's kiss on Fabian Cancellara's cheek at the Tour of Flanders in 2013, Stuff.co.nz reported.
The Belgian Institute for Equality labelled the advertising campaign a violation of the anti-discrimination law, which prohibits any behaviour, which is undesirable, hostile, offensive or humiliating on the grounds of sex, in a statement on their website.
And it successfully called for the posters to be withdrawn.
Cycling's governing body, the UCI, released a statement slamming race organisers who agreed to remove the offending poster.
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The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) stated that the body was extremely unhappy with the promotional poster of the 2015 E3 Harelbeke, adding that they have reminded the organizer of its responsibility and the UCI Regulations and they have agreed to take off the poster from all communication platforms.
The race is no stranger to controversy with promotional posters in 2011 and last year featuring women's objectified bodies, the report added.