The men’s and women’s Uno-X Mobility teams celebrated Pride Month over the weekend, taking rainbow flags on stage to the team presentations at the Copenhagen Sprint and Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Pride Month is observed in June in North America and Europe, coinciding with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that took place in 1969. The month often sees many Pride-related events, and more recently, brands and organisations have incorporated the rainbow LGBTQ+ flag into their branding or online accounts for the month.
Big brands like Nike and Levi’s are currently running Pride-related campaigns.
Though Pride Month activity is not a common sight among professional cycling teams, Uno-X bucked that trend over the weekend with their show of support as their male and female riders waved rainbow flags at the starts of three big races.
They posted a series of clips to their Instagram story on Sunday with the caption “Celebrating Pride this weekend!” and a rainbow flag emoji. On Monday, they posted more photos, saying “Happy Pride. As a team, we stand for equality, respect and the freedom to be yourself. Be who you are. Love who you love.”
Uno-X have already previously added a rainbow to their social media profile pictures to celebrate Pride Month.
“We believe everyone should be able to be who they are and love who they love,” the team told Cyclingnews on Monday. “These are important values for REITAN, our owner, and something we stand for as a team.”
In professional cycling, there are many out LGBTQ+ riders in the women’s peloton, but at present no publicly LGBTQ+ male pros. Earlier this year, data analyst Raúl Banqueri set up True Cycling, a support network for LGBTQ+ people working in professional cycling.
Whilst the conversation may be only just beginning in the professional ranks, there are many clubs, organisations and individuals supporting and promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion at grassroots and hobbyist levels.
Though the UCI has some rules against political expression in races, Uno-X’s gesture is far from the first time that professional riders have used their platform to support a particular campaign, cause or community.
In 2023, Remco Evenepoel and his Soudal-QuickStep teammates displayed a Moroccan flag during a Vuelta a España team presentation to raise awareness for a recent earthquake in the country. Earlier this year, Jonas Vingegaard rode a stage of the Giro d’Italia with one nail painted red in support of a campaign against child abuse.
Back in 2022, too, the now-retired pro Jacopo Guarnieri wore a wristband in the light blue, pink and white colours of the transgender flag at the team presentation of the Hungary Grande Partenza of the Giro d’Italia to protest against Hungary’s transphobic and homophobic laws, the Italian later saying he was inspired by the American riders who did so during an edition of the the Cyclo-cross World Championships in protest at Arkansas’s anti-transgender legislation.
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