Aerodynamics expert and former Visma collaborator weighs in on controversial helmet: "There is certainly great science behind it"

Bert Blocken is a member of the University of Leuven and aerodynamics expert, who has in the past worked with Team Visma | Lease a Bike. He has given his opinion on the surprising reveal of a new time-trial helmet that the Dutch team showed off at Tirreno-Adriatico.

“The design is, whether consciously or not, based on the helmets used in speed skiing. There they have very large helmets that cover not only the head, but also the shoulders and part of the back. The intention of these types of designs is to strive for a cocoon," Blocken told Wielerflits, who argues that this could be an efficient improvement: "But there is certainly great science behind it. It seems like a very good idea to use this technique, and I think it is clear that the Giro helmet is based on it.”

The team collaborates with figures from the speed skating world and, in another attempt to use the knowledge from other sports, has developed a new time-trial helmet that is very large and features a one-piece visor. It was a project from the Giro manufacturer. On the same day Bahrain - Victorious have also revealed a not-too-different helmet, which seems rather inspired by EF Education-EasyPost's weapon of choice against the clock.

Other teams could follow the ever-growing trend: "That could be. You have to get those helmet manufacturers on board. I think we have to wait and see what the UCI will do. If they simply allow it, I expect that other helmet manufacturers will gradually jump on board," Blocken believes, arguing there can be tangible benefit to it. "Of course it takes a lot of development time. You are not going to see that with other teams in the Tour de France. This development can easily take several years."

However ultimately, questions came forward after the team only had one rider in the Top10 - Jonas Vingegaard in 9th place, losing meaningful time to Juan Ayuso - and Cian Uitdebroeks had a very underwhelming time at the finish line. Of course, huge differences could not be expected, but it also brought the question in whether the helmet actually gave any benefit.

“Those are not tens of seconds that will be saved. But it will be significant. It is a nice step that has been taken, aerodynamically it looks good. I wouldn't be surprised if it could save three, four or five seconds in a fifteen kilometer time trial," he responds. "That order of magnitude seems realistic to me.”