There are some loopy helmets on this yr’s Tour de France, and in biking on the whole as of late.
Each in normal highway phases and in time trials, helmet designs have been getting increasingly more outlandish for the previous a number of years. It is on the level now the place we’re changing into a bit resistant to them; a mannequin that may have as soon as triggered downright outrage a couple of years again barely will get a second look now.
After getting over the shock that the Giro Aerohead time trial helmet triggered final yr, together with fashions just like the Candy Safety Redeemer that Uno-X rolled out in 2023, extra normal helmet designs these days fail to register.
To that time, the particular pink and white Giro highway and time trial helmets that Jonas Vingegaard is carrying throughout this yr’s Tour de France have barely registered to this point.
It lastly piqued our pursuits this morning within the Cyclingnews tech workforce, and we realised none of us knew precisely why the Danish star is carrying a special colored helmet to the vast majority of his teammates.
The one different rider on the workforce to put on a special helmet is, after all, Wout Van Aert, who wears a helmet painted in RedBull livery as per his private sponsorship cope with the power drink model. Is similar true for Vingegaard’s pink helmet?
After a little bit of digging, we discovered the reply to be… ‘form of.’
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The explanation for the double Tour de France winner’s customized lid is, firstly, resulting from a sponsorship deal between Visma-Lease a Bike and the Danish firm Bygma; one of many largest suppliers of instruments, development supplies and {hardware} in Denmark.
You possibly can learn all concerning the partnership on this press launch that was put out by the workforce in March, with Vingegaard himself describing Bygma as a ‘private and workforce accomplice’.
What concerning the pink and white?
The Bygma firm colors are pink and white, mirroring the Danish nationwide flag colors.
We reached out to the workforce to ask why it is solely Vingegaard and never the entire workforce, however the workforce did not explicitly clarify, however as a Dane, who higher to sport them than Vingegaard himself? Because the workforce’s star rider and a Tour de France winner, Vingegaard provides the utmost publicity for the sponsor anyway.
Additionally, as a aspect word, though we all know Lidl-Trek riders and employees do not get to make the most of free groceries at Lidl supermarkets, I do surprise if Vingegaard pops in to his native Bygma within the low season to pickup wooden screws and sandpaper. I intention to search out out about this from the workforce, as a result of the power to take pleasure in complementary hand instruments and DIY provides makes me very jealous.
Added visibility within the bunch?
I will be trustworthy, I believed the pink and white helmet was firstly to assist visibility within the bunch, in order that his teammates may simply spot and assist their captain and deplete much less power.
Crew GB observe riders have experimented with completely different colored helmets on the observe for Madison races specifically, to allow them to spot one another extra simply, nevertheless it appears this is not the case.
Maybe the distinction does assist riders like Tiesj Benoot and Victor Campenaerts at occasions, however given they spend a lot time driving with the identical individuals, we might be stunned if they cannot instinctively inform who’s who.
