EF development rider testing aero triathlon shoes in a one-day race, and yes, they are legal

While the big-name riders are out and about taking the headlines – Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgensen using double-disc wheel-equipped time trial bikes at Tirreno-Adriatico and Tadej Pogačar using a prototype set of Enve 6.7 wheels at Strade Bianche – sometimes lesser-known riders and races still get to make the news, as is the case of an unnamed EF Education development team rider using what appears to be aerodynamic triathlon shoes for the UCI 1.2 Rhodes GP one-day race on the Greek island of Rhodes.

The shoes were spotted by Marcello Valoncini, via the ever-useful Cyclingspy Instagram account, and while they were hidden beneath what appeared to be a chopped-down set of Velotoze overshoes, the silhouette was distinctive enough for the Instagram commenterati to conclude that they were a set of VeloVetta Monarch triathlon shoes, which normally retail for over £300.

From the ankle forward, the shoes look low-profile and unremarkable, but rearward, there’s a pronounced fin that gives the appearance of a fairing.

The UCI has specific equipment rules on fairings, which state: "Shoes that have been made more aerodynamic by the addition of a non-essential element or by a modification to the toe or heel are prohibited from competition. No part of the shoe should extend above ankle height.”

The closure mechanism is built into the heel of the shoe, which is why it protrudes rearward; the shoe's design, specifically the rearward protrusion, is there to provide an explicit aerodynamic advantage, per the VeloVetta website.

The founder of VeloVetta, Ed O'Malley, reached out to Cyclingnews on Monday to confirm that these shoes are, in fact, UCI legal.

"Prior to UCI Track Worlds, Anders Johnson of the US team submitted them to the commissars, who approved them prior to his races. He won bronze in the individual pursuit in the shoes."

Aero shoes aren’t necessarily a new phenomenon. We’ve seen Stefan Küng adding laces to his Shimano shoes for the 2025 world championship TT race, and TT ace, Remco Evenepoel, has made the switch to laces for aerodynamic reasons in recent months, mirroring Tadej Pogačar, who has been using them for many seasons now.

Perhaps the earliest iteration of the aero shoe was Adam Hansen, former Lotto-Belisol rider and now president of the CPA, manufacturing his own low-profile carbon shoes with a closure dial mounted underneath.

A thread can be traced from these homemade, ultralight objects of desire through to Van Rysel’s latest, very much UCI illegal, ‘wireless’ integrated shoes that caused such a stir at the Velofollies trade show at the start of the year.