I happened to come across this curious image of current Tour Winner Egan Bernal, helping to promote the Shanghai Criterium in China.
He’s wearing a Mao jacket and cap, the full communist leader outfit. Which, depending on your opinion of current political events, might be considered surprising or tone-deaf.
Given the explosive news stories about continual mass protests in Hong Kong and the battles with Chinese police, it might not have been a brilliant idea for Bernal to dress up in Mao regalia.
Here’s wikipedia’s description of the outfit: “The name Mao suit comes from Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong’s fondness for the style, so that the garment became closely associated with him and with Chinese Communism. Mao’s cut of the suit was influenced by the Stalin tunic then prevalent among Soviet officials.”
They always say that pro cyclists live in a bubble but this was probably not a wise sartorial choice. You would think a Team Ineos PR person might have nixed this idea for obvious reasons.
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