Team Visma | Lease a Bike testing out the revolutionary tool which could potentially be "a breakthrough as big as the first heart rate monitor was in the 70s"

Team Visma | Lease a Bike might be on the verge of a big techincal breakthrough. The team of Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert has been testing a "transformational" training tool from the brand Tymewear that’s touted to deliver a new gold standard physiological metric.

"A reliable, accurate ventilation sensor could be as big a breakthrough as the first heart rate monitor was in the 70s," Tymewear co-founder and CEO Arnar Larusson told Velo. He doesn't hold back in his prediction of their devices impact when he declares: "It could even be bigger, even more transformational."

Tymewear’s breathing sensors put lab-level insights onto a bike computer. Larusson told Velo that he believes "ventilation is the most overlooked vital sign in modern sport". He could be right. A breathing sensor gives a truer insight into metabolic effort than a heart rate monitor. In fact, its values might be more relevant than the renowned VO2 Max tests.

"One of the coaches at Visma, his turn of phrase was, 'we’ve struck gold' with these sensors," Larusson claimed. "Heart rate is a relatively unreliable indicator of what’s happening internally in terms of effort and output. That’s why ventilation really comes through. And the team is seeing that. Ventilation data can give the closest idea of true exercise thresholds outside of doing a V02 max test in a lab."

"Nutrition, aerodynamics, and materials have taken giant leaps and really pushed things forward in the last few years," Visma | Lease a Bike DS Mathieu Heijboer told Velo some time ago when it first came into contact with Tymewear. "I think the next real big focus will be on ventilation and breathing rates, those kind of metrics. It’s something we’re following closely." Fast forward a few months and Visma is already testing out the limits of possibilities of this new device.

"The team told me they have very specific applications and specific workouts where they use the data," Larusson said. "The feedback they’re giving us from their use of the sensors so far has been very, very, positive."

"People get excited about new sensors, but then really it’s down to figuring out how to use it once it’s in the field," Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's Dan Bigham remains cautious. "I think generally, there’s potential to learn more, as long as there’s purpose to how we use a sensor like that. You’ve got to figure out what’s meaningful and what you can change with the information you get from it."