Giro’s wild new helmet given UCI approval for 2024
Futuristic helmet approved for use in 2024. Will triathletes get to wear one any time soon?
Photo by:
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
Remember when the cycling world was up in arms over the new Giro aero helmets being used by the World Tour team Visma | Lease a Bike (see below)? And then the UCI announced that it would be reviewing the use of that and other models?
Giro debuts wild looking futuristic new helmet – how long before we see one in a triathlon?
Well, the Belgian cycling website Sporza.be has broken the news that the UCI has apparently OK’d the use of the helmet through 2024. According Sporza’s reporting, the helmet is approved until January, 2025. After that “the prototype must be available for sale to everyone in accordance with the applicable conditions,” road.cc reports.
Triathlon use?
So will we see the Giro helmet at any triathlon events in 2024? Since the helmets have met the UCI standard, they have likely met the triathlon rules, too. Here’s the World Triathlon rule on helmets:
Helmets must be approved by a national accredited testing authority recognised by a National Federation affiliated with World Triathlon
Here’s the Ironman version of that rule:
Helmets must be approved by a national accredited testing authority and such authority must be recognized by the World Triathlon and the relevant National Federation; (DSQ)
So, as long as an athlete could get hold of one (any Giro sponsored athletes out there?), one would assume an athlete could wear the helmet. Whether or not they would want to remains in question. The Giro Aerohead helmet has been one of the most popular aero helmets with triathletes since it came out in 2016. This latest TT helmet from Giro has been dubbed the Aerohead 2.0 by Visma | Lease a Bike staff, but this new helmet looks dramatically different to the original Aerohead.
The original Aerohead has quite a few vents to keep your head cool. The new Giro helmet appears to have fewer vents, which might not provide enough air flow for triathletes, especially those competing at hot events like the Ironman World Championship in Nice or Kona, or T100 races like Miami, Singapore, Las Vegas, Ibiza … you are getting the picture.
For now we’ll have to wait and see whether any triathletes will get to wear the new Giro helmet this year. It will be hard to miss coming out of T1 at a race – Â and we’ll keep our eyes open. If Giro is looking to sell the helmet by next January, we’ll hopefully have a chance to check one out, too.
