Visma-Lease a Bike and Jonas Vingegaard debut spectacular new time trial helmet

In a move that has set social media ablaze with reviews both positive and negative, Visma-Lease a Bike have revealed a brand-new helmet design to be worn by their riders in the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday afternoon.

Designed and produced by the team's new helmet sponsor Giro, the frankly spectacular time trial lid looks set to turn heads in Italy.

Read more: Visma-Lease a Bike set to use Giro helmets on a 3-year deal

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A closer look at the new Giro helmet

With an oversized design, the new Giro helmet was first worn by the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Ben Tulett in the stage 1 individual time trial.

The first rider off the start ramp for Visma-Lease a Bike was Vingegaard himself, with the Dane looking to better his second-place finish overall at the race two seasons ago. He set a commendable if not blistering time of 11:46, which was bettered by riders such as Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Josef Černy (Soudal Quick-Step).

A race winner, then, it was not. But the Giro helmet certainly earned both Visma-Lease a Bike and Giro a hefty deal of publicity on Monday, and it is not hard to see why the new lid could provide benefits to the riders in yellow and black.

Does it work?: Former Team Sky aerodynamicist on Giro's whacky TT helmet: 'It’s a great design and makes complete sense'

Smoother airflow and greater field of vision?

The old age of aerodynamic time trials helmets featured lids with a small surface area at the front and a long, extended rear, in an effort to make the wind flow as smooth as possible around a rider's head. As brands produced ever more protruded tails on helmets, the UCI clamped down to keep things sensible, with a maximum length limit introduced of 450mm from front to back.

In Visma-Lease a Bike's new Giro model, the ideas of old are left behind. Instead of a protruded rear, the new design features a bellowed front and a visor that's both extremely high and extremely wide.

It is important to note that nothing specific is known about the new helmet as of yet but the intention here would be to reduce the amount of wind hitting the rider's body.

The wide shape seems to wrap the helmet closer to a rider's shoulders, therefore allowing smooth airflow from the nose of the helmet right through to the point at which wind will pass around the body. It would also seem to help close that pesky air gap that exists between a rider's arms and helmet.

By pushing air away from the gap between a rider's arms and head, and wrapping the wide lid to a rider's shoulders, the new Giro helmet looks to offer a sort of 'shield' of smooth airflow.

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With its taller frame, more rounded lens and protruded position from the rider's face, the new Giro visor (left) certainly looks to offer a greater field of view than the old design (right)

The new design also looks to offer Visma-Lease a Bike's riders a very large field of view, which may be a crucial step in improving the safety of time trials.

There have been numerous high-profile incidents of riders suffering from devastating crashes whilst on a time trial setup in recent years, from Egan Bernal's (Ineos Grenadiers) training crash to Stefan Küng's bloodied affair at last year's European Championships.

Read more: Concussion: New calls for tougher safety measures after Stefan Küng crash

Many have pointed to the head-down-eyes-up approach of time trials as a source of danger for riders, who oftentimes will have a rather narrow window from which to view the road ahead of them. In his crash, Küng was wearing the ever-popular Giro Aerohead, which the new design will presumably replace as the brand's flagship model.

From a quick scan of the two helmets side by side, the new model clearly offers riders a wider field of view, thereby increasing their vision and offering a safer ride.

Kask, Specialized and POC all breathe a sigh of relief

The indignation sent in the direction of Giro and Visma-Lease a Bike in the wake of the reveal is nothing new. In fact, public outcry at the supposed ugliness of time trial helmets has been one of the debate-stirrers in the sport over recent years.

Specialized, POC, Kask and Sweet Protection have all been chastised for their latest models, which whilst offering their teams undoubted aerodynamic performance, all have their specific traits which test the eye.

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We are in a new (space) age of time trial helmets

Specialized's TT5 and integrated head sock have left Soudal Quick-Step looking like Carlos Tevez on a cold afternoon in Manchester, Kask's new cumbersome visors have drawn parallels between Ineos Grenadiers and the spoof film Starballs, and POC and Sweet Protection have both produced Darth Vader-like efforts in their own right with the Tempor and Redeemer 2Vi, respectively.

That is not to mention the new Rudy Project helmet which looks more like a dog cone than a piece of performance equipment as worn by Bahrain Victorious in the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

This is all to say, whilst Visma-Lease a Bike may be subject to some (deserved) mockery over the next few hours, days, weeks, months, years... they are far from the first to eschew fashion sensibilities in favour of aerodynamic enhancements.

What do you think of Giro's eye-catching new helmet for Visma-Lease a Bike: hot or not? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

For all the important information about the 2024 Tirreno-Adriatico, be sure to check out our dedicated race hub.