Riding the Vuelta with no Nose Hairs

The Vuelta a España isn’t in Spain yet despite the fact that this is day 4. (Started in Turin, today’s finish line was in the French Alps; this isn’t Spain.) As usual I tune in to Spanish TV in order to watch it, with my buddies Carlos González (a journalist) and Perico Delgado, who was a big racing cyclist in the 90s, when huge thighs were all the rage.

The guys were laughing yesterday and again today about Victor Campenaerts’ obsession with aerodynamism, calling him a “friki” (best translation would be nerd, I think). I mean all the riders do this, and millions of dollars have been spent refining bikes, gear, helmets, and so on to reduce drag to a minimum, but Campenaerts takes this to the next level. He has a vlog where he shows plucking his nose hairs. This isn’t for aerodynamic advantage, but rather, he believes, in order to allow more air into the lungs.

But why, said Carlos and Perico, does he add to drag by having a mustache?