Female Tour de France Accusing Riders Of Cheating By Padding Their Bras

By Larry Leo•Aug 3, 20261:07 pm•

Quite the scandal hit the Tour de France Femmes. Also...there's a female Tour de France...?!

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The Tour de France Femmes is well underway and stage 4's individual time trial set to mark an early benchmark in the general classification. however, some teams have issued a plea to the race jury to enforce a UCI rule for an unexpected reason: riders 'faking' their breast size in the time trial.

Several Women's WorldTour teams have reportedly reached out to officials to enforce UCI regulation on placing items to exaggerate their cup size during the race against the clock. By doing so, riders can gain better aerodynamic advantage that could equate to as high as 0.78 seconds per kilometer.

Wielerflits reports that several teams have called for the rule's enforcement at the Grand Tour, with artificially manipulating clothing sizes or shapes prohibited. The report also states that the practice has been seen in multiple time trials in recent months and years.

According to UCI regulations, placing objects on the chest is prohibited. Article 1.3.033 stipulates that clothing must serve only the function of clothing and must not artificially alter the body shape of the rider.

“This is clearly not okay,” Bert Blocken, professor of aerodynamics at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and LUT in Finland, said. …

Referred to as 'chest fairing', increasing the surface area of the chest can change the airflow around the cyclist during the time trial and thus create a measurable benefit over the course of multiple kilometers.

Blocken completed extensive research into chest fairings for time trialists and triathletes, which was published on ScienceDirect on two years ago. It concluded that you can achieve a reduction in air resistance of up to 3.6% when using an object in the most optimal shape that covers the chest. This translates into a time saving of at least 0.78 seconds per kilometer.

(Barstool Sports)