“He’s not even shaving,” say the fine, sunlit hairs lining Jonas Vingegaard’s legs as he rolls quietly through Annecy. No team car. No grand gestures. Just a Tour de France winner in an old pair of white shoes, legs like a junior on his first club ride, aboard a yellow Cervélo that gleams like a championship belt.
There are codes in cycling. Some are practical (pull off into the wind), some aesthetic (socks, white), some symbolic. Shaved legs fall into that last category. They signify readiness. Seriousness. A respect for the craft. Hairy legs? They’re a violation.
Or are they?
I wrote a story years ago for VeloNews about the terrifying sight of Tom Boonen’s early-season legwarmers. The idea, which I still adhere to, is that a champion’s legwarmers are a signal of dominance through nonchalance. Boonen in legwarmers isn't trying, even in this semi-classic. This day is beneath him, such is his power. Call it the horseshoe theory of flexing; pile on enough indifference, and you actually come back around to threatening.
Vingegaard will arrive in Lille in four weeks’ time in the form of his life, supported by a team that just outwitted in May the very opponents he’ll face in July. His legs will glisten. His socks will sit just so. Yet today, he cruises around Annecy, taking in the climbs that will define stages 18 and 19 of the Tour, leg hairs whistling lightly in the wind. No sleeves. Ankle socks. No razor, not in recent memory. He left it at home. Oh, you shave in June? How very marginal gains of you. You must really need them.
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