Out-of-this-world helmet design 👽 Team Visma | Lease a Bike revealed a striking new aero helmet at Tirreno Adriatico's opening time-trial 😲 ___________________ 🇮🇹 #TirrenoAdriatico
"At first I thought: This is fake!" - 4x time-trial world champion Tony Martin reacts to controversial new Visma helmets
CyclingSaturday, 09 March 2024 at 11:00
Few people have had more success against the clock than four-time time-trial world champion, Tony Martin. Even he was left stunned when he saw the images of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's new time-trial helmet earlier this week.
"I didn't see the time trial live and a friend sent me a picture and at first I thought: This is fake!" the 38-year-old German says in conversation with Eurosport. "Of course you smile at first, but ultimately the point of a time trial is to get from A to B as quickly as possible - and if the helmet saves a few watts, that makes sense. I would have put it on too!"
Read also
Whilst the time-trial performances of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's riders at both Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice weren't exactly anything extraordinary, Martin believes these helmets will soon be seen across the peloton. "It's something we as spectators have to get used to, there have been some not-so-nice time trial helmets in the peloton for a long time and you just have to get used to them," he explains. "This new helmet is one of them and now that we have seen it a few more times in time trials, we perceive it differently and more normally."
That is at least if the UCI don't come down with a swift ban when their imminent investigation is closed. "I think it's a shame that a debate has now started again as to whether helmets shouldn't be banned outright. I do not understand that. The team probably put me into development for several months, if not a year or two. To eliminate that now with one sentence in the regulations would simply be a shame," Martin says. "Sport also lives from such material developments, from high-tech, from the effort to make it ever faster: if you put a stop to every innovation that might look a little special and that not everyone can imitate so quickly, all development work becomes simply massively hindered."
"All helmets are subject to precise regulations, especially when it comes to fall safety. I firmly assume that this helmet has also been tested and certified accordingly. So I don't know what this discussion is about," the German concludes. "If there is evidence for such an assumption, then it must be presented, but I was betting that this new development would also be fall-proof. In general, time trial helmets can always break and splinter, but the major safety risks in cycling lie elsewhere."
claps 2visitors 1359
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- So you're bored, got itvappaxbipmv22-12-2024
- Does everything need to have a point? If so, 99% of the internet should be wiped away. In relation to recent articles with quotes from other riders, my statement points to the ever more obvious reason why they are asked to comment on the effect of his return.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If anyone would be interested enough to launch an official survey as to who out of these three should shut up, I don’t know who’d win but I’m due Boonen would be way back in 3rd place.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- And your point is what exactly?vappaxbipmv22-12-2024
- MVDP dominates this sport even more than Pogaçar dominates road racing. Also he can beat Tadej on the road quite regularly, the opposite is unlikely.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- If you listen to team radios you'll hear each DS telling their riders to ride faster, fight their way to the front, and all occupy the same 8 places.Sweep22-12-2024
- You're talking about a sport where equipment and clothing is measured in grams.Sweep22-12-2024
- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024
- I think you overestimate scientific knowledge and for sure the spreading of it. There are huge numbers of people in similar situations, if there were an easy solution somebody would be making big money out of it. Nerve pain can have many complex origins or be due to complex combinations of reasons. Even if you discover a reason there is not always a solution. Migraines haven’t been solved either. I have had lower back/hip nerve pains on and off for over 30 years, no kind of doctor has ever found a way to reduce, prevent or solve the problem. It may just be that some people are born with nerves that are too short or get twisted out of position during certain movements.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- Amazing ride by her and very promising for her future. On a side note, it’s a bit worrying all these wins riders have after emotional moments in their lives, someone will come up with emotional doping at some point. Maybe give them fake news just before a big race to get hormones pumping.Mistermaumau22-12-2024