{"id":786090,"date":"2026-07-07T13:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/786090\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:12:19","slug":"why-do-cyclists-shave-their-legs-speed-hygiene-or-just-aesthetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/786090\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do cyclists shave their legs \u2013 Speed, hygiene, or just aesthetics?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watch the pro teams line up for a pre-stage presentation at the Tour de France<\/a> and you\u2019ll see few hairs on display from the waist down. Pros and most road cyclists shave their legs, at least during the shorts season, but why go to the bother?<\/p>\n

There are a couple of straightforward answers and some more involved ones.<\/p>\n

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On a simple level, cyclists \u2013 or at least road cyclists \u2013 have always shaved their legs. It\u2019s a rite of passage to show that you\u2019re a \u2018serious\u2019 roadie to get rid of your leg fluff, as much as riding with clipless pedals. There’s certainly an amount of this that is ‘pro cycling cosplay’ though; pros do it, so I will too.<\/p>\n

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It probably also looks better to see a row of cyclists at the start line with smooth, brown legs than hairy legs too, particularly alongside the skin-tight clothing that\u2019s another signal that you\u2019re serious about your riding. Smooth legs might help with heat dissipation too.<\/p>\n

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\"Leg\n<\/p>\n

Massaging unshaved legs has been compared to massaging a cactus (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Beyond that, pro riders have a massage after every stage to relax their leg muscles, reduce soreness, speed up removal of waste products and increase the speed of recovery, ready for the next day\u2019s racing.<\/p>\n

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A massage is much more comfortable for a rider with smooth legs than hairy ones and there\u2019s less mess from the creams and oils used if there are no hairs for it to get stuck in. It\u2019s better for the masseurs too; it’s been said that massaging hairy legs is like massaging a cactus.<\/p>\n

Then there are the crashes. It\u2019s easier to clean a wound if there aren\u2019t hairs in the way. If your legs are bandaged after a crash, it\u2019s less uncomfortable to change dressings if they are not pulling hairs from your legs as they are removed. It should be easier to apply creams and other medications to promote healing and there should be less chance of infection.<\/p>\n

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And we all know how uncomfortable scabs can be as they start to flake off if they have hairs and grit stuck in them.<\/p>\n

More aero too<\/p>\n

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\"Behind\n<\/p>\n

Wind tunnel tests reveal a huge benefit from shaved legs (Image credit: Will Jones)<\/p>\n

These are all classic reasons why cyclists shave their legs, which have been given for generations. But with the increasing obsession with aerodynamics, another reason for cyclists to shave their legs has come to the fore: it\u2019s more aero.<\/p>\n

Back in 2014, Specialized<\/a> put six particularly hairy legged cyclists in its wind tunnel, measured the drag, then shaved their legs and repeated the runs. Its results suggested that there was a time saving over 40km of up to 82 seconds from shaving their legs and an average of 70 seconds. That\u2019s around ten times the time saving of just 28 seconds over 100km Specialized claims for an upgrade from the Tarmac SL8 to the latest Tarmac SL9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

That number sounds enormous and has drawn scepticism, but others have repeated the test, with similar results, although we\u2019ve yet to try it ourselves. For example, this video<\/a> from 2024 found a 13 watt advantage for a triathlete when he shaved his legs and arms.<\/p>\n

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\"Victor\n<\/p>\n

Lotto Soudal’s speed gel was banned by the UCI back in 2018 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)<\/p>\n

But shaving your legs completely may not be as aero as shaving a pattern into your leg hair. The late Mike Burrows of Lotus bike and Giant TCR fame suggested that a mohican stripe of leg hair just ahead of your legs\u2019 widest point might create a trip layer and make your legs faster still.<\/p>\n

And back in 2018, Lotto-Soudal riders smeared \u2018speed gel\u2019<\/a> on their legs for the Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 time trial. This was claimed to disrupt the airflow and create a boundary layer, lowering drag. The team came third in the time trial and speed gel was promptly banned by the UCI.<\/p>\n

Some cyclists go further and shave their arms. When Specialized tested this in 2014, it found the gains were around a quarter of those from shaved legs, so it might be worth keeping the razor out for a little longer and finishing the job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch the pro teams line up for a pre-stage presentation at the Tour de France and you\u2019ll see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-786090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}