Yesterday Lotto-Soudal’s Tomasz Marczyński tweeted a photo of his legs ahead of the Ardennes Classics. A bunch of newspapers have published the photo because professional-cyclists’-legs-looking-a-bit-weird-as-a-result-of-cycling is very much ‘a thing’. Measured by that standard, Marczyński’s is a fair (perhaps even good) effort. But we have seen better. And by ‘better’ we of course mean ‘worse’.

Marczynski’s legs are of course shaven and they are sufficiently veiny that there are good clear shadows where you’d prefer there not to be shadows.

It is, in many respects, a textbook effort.

But is it as good as Chris Froome’s arty black and white number, shot by his wife? We’d argue not.

 

 

As well as being brilliantly lit, this one also showcases thigh veins. We obviously wouldn’t want to go any higher than thigh, but thigh and calf veins clearly beats calf veins alone. (A nod also to Bartosz Huzarski for his above-the-knee results.)

In a rather different category, we could throw in got Robert Forstemann’s terrifying cabers.

 

 

It would also be remiss of us not to mention George Hincapie’s gruesome varicose veins.

However, for a real all-round performance, it’s hard to beat Pawel Poljanski’s shot from last year’s Tour de France where a veritable webbing of veins is teamed with brutally harsh tanlines.

Pawel Poljanski’s legs (via Instagram).jpg
Pawel Poljanski’s legs (via Instagram) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

 

If we’re excluding Hincapie, Pawel’s is our favourite/least favourite.

For more on why pro cyclists’ legs are so veiny, see here.