South African Willie Smit was disqualified from the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai in China for filming the race using video-recording sunglasses.
Smit previously raced for the WorldTour team Katusha and for the second-tier Burgos-BH. The 33-year-old has been racing in Asia over the last five years, and uploaded footage from the opening stage in Xining, which showed grim conditions and a nasty crash.
But race commissaires disqualified the racer and vlogger for his use of Oakley Meta Vanguard AI sunglasses, which have a camera.
They cited a rule introduced by the Union Cycliste Internale (UCI) in April, which states that devices capable of capturing or transmitting data are only authorised under strict conditions.
Today I was disqualified for the first time in my cycling career (14 years), for wearing glasses that record video. Unfortunately I was not aware of a new rule that was implemented in April that prohibited this. A warning, fine or yellow card could have also been enough. But what… pic.twitter.com/II7nRUPKsE
— Willie Smit (@williesmurfy) July 12, 2026
“Today I was disqualified for the first time in my cycling career (14 years), for wearing glasses that record video. Unfortunately I was not aware of a new rule that was implemented in April that prohibited this. A warning, fine or yellow card could have also been enough,” Smit posted on X.
Smit then highlighted a difference between his treatment and what’s happening at the Tour de France, where Lidl-Trek’s Toms Skujiņš allegedly used a hand-held camera to interview Visma-Lease a Bike’s Victor Campenaerts.
“But what I struggle to understand is why in the Tour de France can you quite literally vlog with a camera in your hand which is perfectly legal...but because the camera is in the glasses you get an automatic Disqualification?!”
“Yes, If I knew about the rule I would have also never posted it on social media. Anyways, I'll take it on the chin,” he added.
“And lastly, my glasses have absolutely no AI capabilities unless used with a phone. So on the bike it can do nothing but record video!”
