The Mallorca 312 cycling event on Saturday, affected by the sad death of one of the participants, also caused a large number of complaints about the amount of rubbish that was discarded along the route.
Images have appeared on social media showing discarded packaging - gels and energy bars. This was against the instructions of the organisers. Riders were meant to have kept this in bags and deposited these in containers at the refreshment areas.
Typical comments have included: "It's a disgrace. It's incredible that sports fans have so little concern for the environment and consider cycling to be above respect for nature, believing they have the right to litter it."
"It seems that these cyclists watch professionals throw gels and bars into the ditches on television and do the same. If the 312 doesn't want to fall into total disrepute, they should set up a collection service along the entire route."
The organisers said yesterday that they have cleaned up two points along the route where waste was found away from the refreshment stations. "We assume responsibility, apologise, and appreciate feedback received via email and social media."
A further comment was: "The inconvenience caused by the road closures is already enough without having to endure a trail of garbage stretching for miles across the Tramuntana. It is also questionable that a sporting event, even one primarily aimed at amateurs, should need to have more than 8,000 participants. We doubt that Mallorca in general and the Tramuntana in particular have the capacity to deal with these massive and disproportionate loads."
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Tristan SmithFor sure, bring back hanging!
Theres a surprise ! just another day of rude, arrogant, disrespectful and over entitled low lifes. They bring little good to the quality of life here in Mallorca. Mostly anger, stress and inconvienence. Maybe a large entry fee to enter these events that would pay for other less fortunate to walk around cleaning up after them . Now the local council has to use island tax payers money to clean this rubbish. We see this all year round and i have lost count of the number of times i have see them using the side of the road as a toilet ! Some serious control and consquences need to be put in place to control and punish those who dont follow the legal rules if they ever made some. At best a slapped wrist by police is as bad as it gets.