E3 Saxo Classic apologise after controversial LGBTQ/Wout van Aert cartoon posted on their social media

Wout van Aert took victory at the latest round of UCI World Cup in Benidorm, without even having a saddle on his bike as he crossed the line. The E3 Saxo Classic tried to make light of this incident with a cartoon although it's fair to say, it didn't go well.

Attempting to make a joke of the saddleless van Aert, the race posted a cartoon on their official X (Twitter) account. "Wout van Aert without saddle across the finish," the headline reads. "LGBTQ community hugely enthusiastic." To cap it off, the cartoon shows a group of people in the crowd holding a Pride flag and shouting "about the rainbow jersey of Van der Poel."

This tweet did not go down well. There were immediate calls for the post to be taken down and even some suggestions riders should boycott future editions of the race. Although the controversial tweet stayed up over night, this morning it was finally deleted with an apology post swiftly following.

"As E3 Saxo Classic, we would like to apologize for the cartoon we launched yesterday. We certainly didn't want to offend anyone here," the apology reads. "We misjudged the cartoon. We will certainly discuss this internally. Our sincere apologies."

Check it out for yourself in down below and let us know your thoughts!