Can a padded bra make you faster? New CFD modelling delivers a deflating answer for cyclists
AiRO's modelling puts the Tour de France Femmes controversy to the test
Recent CFD modelling has ruled out the possibility of padded bras providing cyclists with an aerodynamic advantage. Ahead of a recent Tour de France stage, officials began examining cyclists' chests for potential padding to create a chest fairing, a design intended to reduce drag during time trials. However, the UCI regulations prohibit any clothing or accessories that modify a rider's morphology or improve aerodynamics, making it unclear how much padding could be permitted.
While initial chest fairing studies suggested drag reductions of up to 3.6%, AiRO's new modelling indicates that the effect of sports-bra-sized padding is negligible. A push-up bra is more likely to lift a rider's expectations than their speed. AiRO's tests involved a female rider model wearing a Specialized Evade helmet, with three chest volumes tested: small, medium, and large.
The results showed negligible differences in drag among the chest configurations, with the Specialized Evade helmet indicating a 2.2% reduction in speed across all chest sizes. Even a "proper fairing" had minimal impact, with only a −0.7% reduction in drag on the Giro Aerohead and −0.1% on the Specialized Evade. While the findings suggest that padded bras do not provide a measurable speed advantage, the limitations of the study, including its use of a single rider model and parametric human model, mean that the results may not be universally applicable.
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