Legalize Spinaci: The Story Behind Cinelli's Banned Aero Bars
Legalize Spinaci
The true story of the handlebar extension that conquered the peloton, terrified the UCI, and nearly killed Cinelli. Almost thirty years later, they're still illegal. This t-shirt wants to talk about it.
The timeline
Before the Spinaci: how aero changed everything ↓
Greg LeMond uses clip-on aerobars to overturn a 50-second deficit on the final stage of the Tour de France. Aerodynamics enters the road cycling conversation permanently.
The Spinaci is born ↓
Cinelli develops a compact aero extension for road handlebars. Shorter and wider than tri-bars, designed for road racing. The name? Italian for "spinach." Like Popeye's secret weapon.
The pros adopt them ↓
Team Carrera mounts Spinaci on Chiappucci and Pantani's bikes at the Giro d'Italia. Other teams follow — even those without Cinelli sponsorships buy them with their own money. 20,000 units sold every month. Other brands launch imitations. "Spinaci" becomes a generic term.
The golden era: 20,000 units a month ↓
Spinaci are now standard equipment across the pro peloton. Bicycling Magazine calls them "the only noteworthy change in cyclist positioning in the last ten years." The aero advantage is undeniable. The bunch, however, becomes increasingly dangerous.
The UCI ban ↓
Spinaci-type extensions are banned from all mass-start races. Riders can't reach their brakes quickly enough in a group. A bestseller and pro favorite is declared illegal overnight.
Cinelli fights back ↓
The ban puts Cinelli under serious pressure. The company launches a guerrilla campaign against the UCI. It doesn't work. The Spinaci remain outlawed — but production continues for triathletes and recreational riders.
Cult status ↓
Original Spinaci become collector's items on eBay. The folklore of a banned substance — whispered about, missed by those who remember.
The UCI bans… nothing ↓
The "puppy paws" and "super tuck" positions are outlawed. Riders resting forearms on the tops for aero gains — the Spinaci position, without the Spinaci. Banned too.
The gravel irony ↓
Clip-on aero extensions are standard in gravel racing — including mass-start events. What's banned on road is normal off-road.
Legalize Spinaci ↓
Almost 30 years after the ban, Cinelli turns provocation into product. A t-shirt for everyone who remembers. And everyone who should.
Before the Spinaci: how aero changed everything
Paris, July 1989. Laurent Fignon leads the Tour de France by 50 seconds going into the final time trial. Greg LeMond lines up with a pair of clip-on aerobars — borrowed from triathlon — and overturns the deficit. Fignon loses the Tour by 8 seconds. From that moment, aerodynamics is no longer optional.
The 1990s become an era of relentless experimentation. Carbon-spoked wheels, futuristic TT bikes, electronic shifting. And in a factory just outside Milan, Cinelli builds something that will change the conversation.
Milan, 1993. The Spinaci is born.
The concept is deceptively simple: compress the aerodynamic advantage of a TT setup into a compact extension that clips onto a standard road handlebar. Shorter and wider than tri-bars, the Spinaci curve forward from the centre of the bar, just inside the tape line. Drop into an aero tuck without bolting a full cockpit to your race bike.
The name is pure Cinelli — spinaci means spinach in Italian. And just like Popeye's spinach, they give you an unfair advantage. You attack off the front, get on the Spinaci, and essentially time trial away. Your road bike becomes a weapon.
The pros adopt them
Team Carrera Jeans–Tassoni is the first big name to go all in. Claudio Chiappucci uses them in his legendary solo breakaways, where the aero advantage on flat sections between climbs makes the difference between staying away and getting caught. Marco Pantani runs them during time trial stages of the Giro d'Italia. Other teams follow — even those without Cinelli sponsorships buy them with their own money.
The golden era: 20,000 units a month
The Spinaci go into full production and the response is staggering: 20,000 units sold every month. "Spinaci" becomes a generic term — other brands launch imitations and rush out their own versions, but none match the elegance of the original. As Bikeroom Magazine put it, even teams without Cinelli contracts couldn't resist.
The only noteworthy change in cyclist positioning in the last ten years.
Bicycling Magazine
By 1997, Spinaci are standard equipment across the pro peloton. The aero advantage is undeniable. But in a group of 200 riders at high speed, having your hands far from the brakes is becoming a problem. The peloton gets faster and more dangerous every season.
October 26, 1997. The ban.
The problem with the Spinaci is the same thing that makes them brilliant: they shift the rider's weight forward, away from the brakes. In a solo breakaway, that's a feature. In a group at 55 km/h, it's a liability. Anyone who raced in that era will tell you — being in a bunch with riders on Spinaci was one of the most terrifying experiences in cycling.
The UCI makes it official: Spinaci-type extensions are banned from all mass-start road races. The reason is rider safety. After roughly four years of use, the Spinaci is declared illegal overnight.
After a short-but-sweet shelf life from 1993 to 1997, the UCI banned them on safety grounds. The Spinaci have developed something of a folkloric reputation ever since.
road.cc
Cinelli fights back
The ban puts Cinelli in a difficult spot — losing a product that was moving 20,000 units a month isn't easy on any company. Cinelli doesn't accept the verdict quietly, launching what Road Bike Action describes as a "guerrilla campaign" against the UCI's decision. But the ruling holds. The Spinaci remain outlawed in competition — though production continues for triathletes, recreational riders, and the growing community of fans who refuse to let go.
Cult status
In the years that follow, the Spinaci doesn't disappear — they transform. Original sets become sought-after collector's items, trading on eBay for prices that would have seemed absurd in 1997. Cycling forums and blogs debate endlessly whether the ban was justified. The Spinaci acquire the folklore of a banned substance: whispered about in group rides, displayed in garage shrines, missed by everyone who was there.
The irony keeps going
In 2021, the UCI bans the "puppy paws" and "super tuck" positions — riders resting their forearms on the tops of their handlebars for aero gains. In other words, the peloton reinvented the Spinaci position without the actual Spinaci. The UCI banned that too.
Meanwhile, in gravel racing, clip-on aero extensions are perfectly legal and increasingly common in mass-start events. Swiss brand Zirbel even launches the "Zirbelacci" — a modern Spinaci redesigned for contemporary 31.8mm bars. What's banned on road is normal off-road. The irony writes itself.
2026. Still illegal.
Almost thirty years later, the Cinelli Spinaci are still banned in UCI racing. And honestly? Fair enough — having 200 riders at 55 km/h with their hands nowhere near the brakes was never going to end well. But the story is too good not to celebrate. A Milanese brand built something so popular that it became a generic term, so effective that the pros bought it with their own money, and so ahead of its time that it's still being reinvented today — on gravel bars, on Zwift setups, on eBay listings with increasingly creative pricing.
The Legalize Spinaci tee just tips its hat to a product that had a hell of a run — and to the kind of restless, slightly reckless innovation that only comes out of Milan.
