If you thought it was bizarre that the New York Yankees had facial hair grooming standards, professional cycling will blow your mind.
Pro cyclist Peter Sagan is grabbing headlines around the world because he’s started the 2016 season being as rebellious as possible, simply by not shaving his legs.
What a day! So long..thank you @tinkoff_team for your support. @TirrenAdriatico stage4 pic.twitter.com/0a5dU7sgxY
— Peter Sagan (@petosagan) March 12, 2016
As the Guardian notes, pro cyclists often shave their legs so they can patch up grazes and cuts from crashes easier and because there’s a never proven theory that hairless legs provide a win-tunnel effect which gives a small aerodynamic gain. At the very least, it creates a placebo effect that cyclists can perform better with no hair on their legs.
Former cyclist Stephen Roche told CyclingTips.com while Sagan may not be breaking any rules, the leg hair isn’t a good look for those who have been shaving for the past 100 years.
“In one sense, without creating a polemic about it, I don’t think it is a good example. He’s wearing the world champion’s jersey, and he owes it to be respectful and to be clean and presentable. Okay, you might say, ‘well, there is no law that says you have to shave your legs.’ But why then have we been doing it for the past 100 years? It is because it doesn’t look good.”
Other cyclists gave the site testimonials, seeming more than OK with the change.
“I fully support Peter in doing whatever he wants with his body hair. – Taylor Phinney”
“I think the day he shows up at the start line with legs shaved, everyone else will panic and go back to their hotel. – Phil Gaimon”
I just think it would make getting massage pretty painful. Must need a lot of lotion. – Tejay van Garderen”
So while baseball goes through its own identity crisis in regards to fun, cycling is experiencing its own clash between generations. Sadly, Sagan has given in and announced on his Twitter that he was going to shave his legs. Hopefully his leg hair inspired cyclists for generations to come.
