Tour de France: German hairdressing world champion styles cycling stars

Nico Wolfram has been on the road as a cycling hairdresser since 2019, for the first time at the Tour de France, which started in Brussels. It all started with a phone call: two weeks before the start of the Tour, Alpecin asked whether Nico Wolfram would have time to come along. They promised a mobile caravan to take him from one team to the next. The riders' and crew members' hair was to be cut at the team hotels.

Reflection period until yesterday

The hairdressing world champion from Schmalkalden was unable to accept the offer from one day to the next. At the time, Nico Wolfram didn't know anyone from the Alpecin team. He asked for time to think about it, as he would be away from his shop for a week and would have to cancel all of his customers during that time. "We actually needed an answer yesterday," was Alpecin's response. Then he was allowed to sleep on it for a night. After that it was clear: "I'll do it". He has been part of the team ever since and now knows everyone.

Since becoming world champion in Chicago in 2008, Nico Wolfram has been working with Alcina. They in turn belong to Dr Kurt Wolff, the group to which Alpecin also belongs. "Alpecin called Alcina and said 'we need a hairdresser. Do you know anyone?", reports Nico Wolfram and continues: "That's how I ended up with someone from Alpecin's sports marketing department on the phone."

No connection to cycling

At the time, Nico Wolfram had no connection to cycling whatsoever. "The last time I actively watched cycling was in the days of Ullrich and Zabel," he recalls. So in 2019, he had all the famous cyclists in the chair and didn't know anyone. That has since changed. Cycling is always on in his hairdressing salon in Schmalkalden and he is well informed. From the Tour de France, he travelled on to Yorkshire for the 2019 World Cycling Championships. The original plan was to run the mobile hairdressing salon for a year as an anniversary event. But it went on, the success and the rush was great. Since then, Nico Wolfram has regularly done hair not only at the start of the Tour de France, but also at the start of the Vuelta, the Giro d'Italia and more. If possible, he also goes to world championships - or the Deutschland Tour, for example. Due to its sponsor, Alpecin, the mobile hairdressing salon is exclusively involved in men's cycling.

Other topic: How do you become world champion hairdresser?

Nico Wolfram has his world championship title in the men's section. A time limit is set for the world championship, in which a specified hairstyle must be realised. A jury checks hair length and more before and after. "That's pretty much how you can imagine it," the 2008 world champion concludes his explanation.

The drivers love it

Meanwhile Nico, well the whole team around the Alpecin Barber Shop, has a good standing. The riders write to him and ask "Hey, are you back at the start of ... [insert any bike race here]". A lot of the contact with the riders is via social media.

At the bike races themselves, Nico Wolfram and his team go directly to the team hotels, where not only the riders but everyone is welcome, "because without a mechanic, without a masseur, without a cook, the bus driverWithout social media and without a team manager and whoever else, none of this would be possible," emphasises the hairdressing world champion. "Thanks to us, you don't have to organise a hairdressing appointment in advance."

"I thought it was superfluous"

The hairdresser from Schmalkalden hadn't expected such a rush. "To be honest, I thought it was superfluous, as the riders all have short hair anyway." But both the riders and the teams around them all have so much to do in the run-up to the race, they are at training camps, perhaps travelling to see family and much more. So it's very convenient if nobody has to organise a hairdresser's appointment in advance, but can have it done directly on site. For some drivers, the last time they had a haircut was several months in the past, "so I was able to get a lot of things done," says Nico Wolfram in amazement.

During the Tour de France or other cycling races, many heads want to be styled. The hairdresser doesn't know exactly how many, but estimates 50+ heads a day. The day before our interview, two days before the start of the Tour de France 2024, the caravan was set up at 8 a.m. - and closed at 11.15 p.m. in the evening. The days are not only long, but also fun for the hairdresser and a change of pace for the riders and teams.

Leap of faith

Nico Wolfram is impressed by the openness of the drivers and the trust they place in him. Not every visit to a stranger's hairdresser ends with a smile, but the hairdresser from Schmalkalden can be trusted. Word seems to have got around. "Pogacar came yesterday, parked his bike right by the barber camper and sat down on the chair and we started cutting hair straight away," he reports, one day before the start of the 2024 tour.

TOUR at the Tour de France: Exclusive blog