{"id":611435,"date":"2025-12-04T10:22:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/611435\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:22:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:22:27","slug":"guess-it-is-better-to-buy-a-pair-of-those-ugly-out-of-ear-headphones-decathlons-former-giro-next-gen-winner-fined-for-using-airpods-during-training-ride-in-alicante","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/611435\/","title":{"rendered":"“Guess it is better to buy a pair of those ugly out of ear headphones” \u2013 Decathlon\u2019s former Giro Next Gen winner fined for using AirPods during training ride in Alicante"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johannes Staune-Mittet<\/a> drew unexpected attention on Monday after revealing he had been fined while training on the roads around Alicante.The Decathlon CMA CGM Team<\/a> rider published a short clip on Strava<\/a> showing the written sanction issued by the Spanish authorities, accompanied by a caption that quickly caught the eye of fans. \u201cGuess it is better to buy a pair of those ugly out of ear headphones than to get fined for airpods every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fine, set at \u20ac200 but reduced to \u20ac100 with early payment, referred to the use of earphones connected to a device while riding \u2014 an infringement outlined in the Reglamento General de Circulacion, the legislation enforced by the Spanish traffic directorate, the DGT.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The citation on the document read: \u201cconducir utilizando cascos o auriculares conectados a aparatos receptores o reproductores de sonido\u201d \u2014 which translates to \u201cdriving while using headphones or earphones connected to devices that receive or play sound.\u201d\u00a0The wording applies to all vehicles under Spanish traffic law, including bicycles.<\/p>\n

A routine winter ride with an unplanned interruption<\/p>\n

Alicante and the wider Costa Blanca region remain one of the busiest winter bases for WorldTour teams, with riders from multiple squads descending each year for endurance blocks and early-season testing. Enforcement of the headphone rule is well established locally but often catches out visiting professionals.<\/p>\n

For Staune-Mittet, who completed his first Grand Tour earlier this season and continues to build his stage-race profile after winning the Giro Next Gen at U23 level, the incident amounted to a minor interruption to a standard December training schedule.<\/p>\n

His decision to publish the fine openly \u2014 paired with his light-hearted caption \u2014 generated quick engagement across cycling-focused platforms. While modest in scale, the post resonated widely as both a relatable moment and a reminder of the strict approach Spanish authorities take regarding audio devices on the bike.<\/p>\n

\"johannes<\/p>\n

Staune-Mittet rode for Visma before signing for Decathlon ahead of the 2025 season<\/p>\n

Attention that will not affect preparations<\/p>\n

The sanction will have no sporting impact, but it reinforces the regulations that many professionals navigate when training in Spain each winter. Staune-Mittet\u2019s post, however brief, ensured the message travelled quickly: in Spain, riding with earphones remains firmly prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johannes Staune-Mittet drew unexpected attention on Monday after revealing he had been fined while training on the roads…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,188743,190963,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-611435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-decathlon-cma-cgm-team","10":"tag-johannes-staune-mittet","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115660807206949346","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}