La Vuelta decided to modernize. Like so many other companies, it wanted to reach a larger audience, attract more viewers, and not limit itself only to the sport and an already loyal audience. And from the communication department of Unipublic, the company organizing the race, and from the organization itself, it was understood that it would be a good idea to bet on some influencer, youtuber or similar, to reach an audience they were not reaching, that range of young people who are not especially interested in the world of cycling, but do consume products through their mobile screens. That’s how Unipublic signed Erola Jons, a 28-year-old Catalan who has six million followers between TikTok and Instagram. Her first appearances on a stage different from her usual ecosystem have fueled a new controversy in La Vuelta just as the race started this Saturday from Monaco with all the appeal of having Tadej Pogacar.
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Jons has been famous for years for recording herself with a hidden camera and flirting with guys through witty phrases. The Catalan has also published a book about flirting, titled How to Get Your Crush, published by Editorial Planeta, as well as having appeared on television with José Mota on TVE (in José Mota No News) and in the horror series Rabia, along with occasional collaborations with F1 and MotoGP. But the experiment, transferred to La Vuelta, clashed badly.
And now the organization has decided that, although the content creator will continue until the end of the Spanish tour, she will do so with some restrictions. For example, she will not be allowed to talk to the cyclists without the express permission of the teams.
The problem was that Jons, equipped with a Vuelta microphone in hand, enjoyed after the first stage — a time trial through the streets of Monte Carlo — the permission that only the privileged have, which is to be able to walk through areas with exclusive access for cyclists and the organization’s media. And she did what she always does on her networks: flirt and harass, even if playfully. Pogacar and Tarling, among others, were the chosen ones. This led UAE to complain to the organization. “Rather, they asked us if she would continue to be there and requested that before talking to their riders, permission be requested from their communications area,” Unipublic explains. Also, of course, a huge uproar was raised due to the influencer’s lack of education and knowledge of the subject.
Jons, content creator for the race’s Twitch and YouTube channels, approached Josh Tarling, who had just lost his brother, run over in the Volta a Portugal, and said: “I think he doesn’t like interviews, especially not mine haha, but I still have 20 stages to conquer him, don’t worry, I’ll conquer this one quickly.” Then she got close to Pogacar — she tried to see how he changed, now without limits — and started a string of the most cringeworthy phrases: “When I catch Pogaçar, he better get ready, because that’s when the curves come, he’s very used to straight lines”; “I don’t know how this guy is doing in the general classification, but in mine, he’s first”; “Look how cute he is… big Pogachitar… take me for a ride too…!”
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“Why do you hyperventilate when you see me?”
It reached its peak when she managed to talk to him and said: “Why do you hyperventilate when you see me?”. The cyclist, stage winner — another circumstance Jons didn’t realize, as she asked a spectator how they had finished — responded with a loud: “What?”.
Asked the next day at the press conference, Pogacar denied knowing what the press was talking about when questioned about the incident. The rider, really, had not fully understood what happened and didn’t even remember. But the UAE press chief later assured that he did know who the girl with the unfriendly face was.
“The first thing we want to make clear is that we do not want to invade any journalist’s space. She is an influencer who has participated in other sporting events and what we seek is humor. It is a very different way of communicating. They are jokes and entertainment, and the context must be understood,” Unipublic explains; “we must understand her role. Not see it as journalism.” But after the uproar, La Vuelta has decided that Erola Jons will finish the race, that’s why they hired her, but she will not be able to continue talking to the riders unless she first obtains permission from the teams, a measure that will limit the influencer.
