Team Visma | Lease a Bike launches new time trial helmet
Team Visma | Lease a Bike will ride this season with a new time trial helmet, the Aerohead ll. The Dutch team partnered with Giro Sport Design which has a long history of developing aerodynamic cycling helmets. "It is a project that has been running for more than a year. The aim is to create an even better time trial helmet than last year's," says Mathieu Heijboer, Head of Performance at Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
The new time trial helmets were used in competition for the first time today during the opening time trial of the Tirreno-Adriatico. "We tested the helmet extensively last winter. We did this using position scans and 3D printed models of several riders, including Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert, among others," Heijboer clarified.
Aerodynamic advantage
Team Visma | Lease a Bike hopes to take another step forward with their new time trial helmet. "This helmet is specially designed to sit in the aero position," says Heijboer. "It is therefore no coincidence that we have made a lot of progress in that area." An added bonus is that riders can have even better visibility than before. The reason for this is that the visor of this helmet is a lot bigger than the previous one. Predominantly positive feedback, then, according to Heijboer.
"This helmet is specially designed to sit in the aero position"
One thing that certainly stands out is the helmet's appearance. "The riders did raise their eyebrows a bit when they first saw the helmet, but in the end that didn't last long," says Heijboer. "After a few tests and seeing the gains, everyone was quickly convinced."
Ash Lewin, lead designer for the Aerohead II said, “I’ve dreamed of the fastest helmet ever. It was incredible to work for months on Aerohead II with Visma |Lease a Bike to gather data and measurements from the team, pushing the limits of what’s possible for a time trial helmet. To finally be able to go to the wind tunnel in Eindhoven, put one on Jonas, and see the numbers that proved we’d succeeded was truly special. And of course, then we pushed the design even further, because that’s what Giro does.”
The helmets are custom-made for each rider and obviously comply with UCI regulations. On Tuesday, we will also see the helmets in the team time trial at Paris-Nice.
