Ares and Contador speak out about the Erola Jons controversy: “They were wrong”

The controversy over the presence of Erola Jons in the Vuelta a España has provoked a barrage of criticism from those around the race itself. The organization has decided to limit the content creator’s access to the runners and teams after the reactions generated by her interventions, although she will maintain her collaboration during the race. A decision that Javier Ares and Alberto Contador They consider a rectification after an initial error.

“It has been a manifest error by La Vuelta,” he said. Ares during the broadcast of the third stage on Eurosport. The journalist, however, wanted to make it clear that he does not question the decision to incorporate content creators into a competition like the Vuelta. The problem, in his opinion, was in the choice of profile and the way of approaching his work.

“The purpose of hiring a content creator who could give significance to the career is good. But they have made the mistake in the person and in the argument,” he explained.

The episode that triggered much of the criticism was his intervention with Tadej Pogacar, in addition to other content during the first days of the race. The case also opened a debate about the limits between entertainment, content creation and journalistic coverage in a major sports competition.

Alberto Contador agreed with Ares in the diagnosis. The former cyclist considers that La Vuelta has understood that the choice was not correct, although he defends that cycling incorporates new profiles capable of connecting with different audiences.

“In La Vuelta they know that they made a mistake, that the profile they wanted was not the right one,” said Contador. “It is interesting, at a given moment, to put some content creators, influencers, whatever we want to call them, but when the profile is in line with what the career is and really what you want to convey.” Contador believes that opening the competition to people from other sectors can be positive for the growth of cycling. “I think it is interesting to bring in new people or people from different sectors because they can bring cycling to a different audience. I think it is good, but obviously always with some minimums that I think are not being met in this case,” he added.