Why Magnus Cort Dyed His Mustache Blue at the Tour de France

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The third week Tour de France blues have hit Uno-X Mobility leader Magnus Cort. No, he wasn’t sad today at the start of stage 16; in fact he was his usual jovial self.

So why is he blue? Well, his mustache is.

The prototypically blonde Dane is known for sporting a signature ‘stache as he fights for the break.

The thick streak of golden hair on his lip has become such an identifying feature that it attracted a bet from a well known Danish Instagram influencer/meme curator, Anders Hemmingsen, who has 1.3 million followers — extra impressive considering he posts in Danish, a language spoken by about 6 million people.

The terms were simple: If Hemmingsen could help Cort reach 200,000 followers on Instagram — at the time it was at 146,000, Cort says — then Cort would have to dye his mustache a particularly bright shade of blue.

“It only took him 24 hours,” Cort said Tuesday morning at the stage start. “Now I have to keep my word.”

After Hemmingsen’s legions of followers boosted Cort’s account, the only thing left to do was decide a color: red, yellow, or blue? Winning with 45 percent of the vote, conducted via Instagram poll, blue was the answer.

Cort took Monday’s final rest day as an opportunity to follow through on his side of the deal.

It has turned out to be a rather small price to pay for one of the most valuable currencies in the modern world, social media followers. Cort’s following has skyrocketed to to 229,000 and counting.

Now all those new followers will get to enjoy Cort’s enthralling daily hotel reviews of the Tour de France’s infamously French accommodations.

Perhaps the ‘stache upgrade will be the performance boost Cort needs this week to earn his third career Tour de France stage victory. Regardless, everyone’s a winner in this situation.