Rather, it’s cycling that’s shameful for providing it, for pandering so transparently to the straight male gaze. It is not innocent fun to use women this way; one need only look to the podium of the 2013 Tour of Flanders, where the second-place finisher groped Maja Leye while she delivered a kiss to the winner. Leye reported feeling frozen to the spot and wanting to slap the racer, but deciding against it. “I had to stay professional,” she said in an interview. “There were millions of TV viewers.” She knew that fans and media would punish her, not her assailant, for reacting negatively to the violation.

The assault became a joke in an advertisement for this year’s e3-Harelbeke race, which featured a slogan translating to “Who will squeeze them at Harelbeke?”