Each year, teams release a batch of photos showcasing their riders and latest kit. But are they real?
You’ve almost certainly seen them in your internet travels: the headshots of riders that appear on team websites, stats databases, and occasionally, trading cards.
These pictures usually follow a pretty well-defined formula that has stayed the same over the years; at a pre-season training camp, the rider stands against a neutral backdrop wearing a fresh team kit. Usually, they look straight down the barrel, arms sometimes crossed, arms sometimes folded behind their back. Depending on the temperament of the rider, they might be smiling, or they might wear a neutral expression on their face. Either way, this will be the definitive formal record of their season on the team.
The photographer presses a button – click! – and then everyone gets on with their lives, likely never thinking about the photo again.
But here’s the thing: the definitive photo may not be a real photo at all. In fact, some of a team’s riders may not have even been at the training camp in the first place.
Alpecin-Deceuninck had a big complement of riders at its 2023 training camp. Was that the case in future years? Let’s find out. Good heads, good hair
The little curiosity of dubious headshots first became apparent when I was looking through the Alpecin-Deceuninck website for another story idea (the Very Important Question I was investigating: does Alpecin, sponsored by an anti-balding/caffeinated shampoo brand, only hire dudes with good hair?). Suddenly, I started seeing patterns, by which I mean that I started seeing a lot of matching bodies.
It started with Tobias Bayer, Sylvain Dillier, and Luca Vergallito: three riders who all bore signs of being photoshopped. For Bayer, there seemed to be an egregious skin-tone mismatch; for the others a telltale vein on the right arm was the clue. Dillier introduced some complications, thanks to his Swiss national champion armbands, but on closer inspection of his left arm, they too seemed to be added in after the fact.
L-R: Tobias Bayer, Sylvain Dillier, and Luca Vergallito
The more I looked, though, the more confused I became. Why does Jimmy Janssens look like that? Can Edward Planckaert’s head really be that big? If Alpecin doesn’t hire riders with good hair, then how do we explain the presence of a rider called Simon Dehairs on the roster?! How deep did this all go?
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