We once again wandered around the team paddock before and after the stage to bring you the latest new technology and interesting facts from the world’s biggest cycling race. Here’s what we found. Trek-Segafredo had a few riders competing with a new helmet from Bontrager Trek. The Bontrager name usually appears on Trek helmets, but the new cap seemingly omits any mention of the Trek component fender. The helmet appears to be a highly ventilated offering and possibly lightweight. The new helmet is apparently at least partially made with Trek’s OCLV carbon, and perhaps that explains the change in branding. Rudy Project also introduced a new helmet today. The “Egos” was announced on the brand’s Instagram page and is said to offer safety, comfort and “excellent fit”. SRAM has a gold chain for former world champion Mads Pedersen …… with a gold cassette to match. SRAM also had a rainbow colored chain for Pedersen during the rainbow jersey, and it looks like that rainbow chain will soon be available to the public. All Groupama-FDJ riders, with the exception of Thibaut Pinot, raced with these 55-tooth chainrings from Kronos Sport. Wout van Aert decided to race Vittoria’s Corsa Speed tires, certainly a higher risk option on the Danish roads known to cause more punctures than most. Specialized has been teasing a new tire all season. But now the tests have gone up a notch, with the real identity almost visible through this slightly worn hotpatch. This winning Bahrain mechanic changed those brake pads surprisingly quickly just moments before the start. Tadej Pogačar races in original Scicon goggles at the Tour. The glasses use aerodynamics in the opposite way to most new technologies, with a hole in the lens just in front of the frame that is said to channel airflow to the face. Interestingly, only Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven race with the new Madone bar/stem. All six remaining riders ride the new Madone with some other two-piece bar and stem combo or the Aelous cockpit from Emonda. From what we understand, some riders’ unique stem length and width combinations weren’t yet available on the new one-piece bar/stem, so those riders were forced to contend with an alternate setup. Other riders prefer a lighter weight option, or maybe they don’t particularly like the flared drops of the new handlebar. Bauke Mollema chooses to compete without a lead unit. Apparently he doesn’t like to see the data during the scene. Mollema will have a head unit in his pocket to record his ride data, but there are no distractions ahead. Interestingly, though, Molema likes a track profile on his bars, odd considering he won’t have a odometer on the head unit to correlate where he is at any given time. Wout van Aert has stated that he is aiming for the green jersey at this year’s Tour de France and, although he was technically only keeping Lampert warm, Wout’s bike was adorned with a green fork today. The engineers should return to the yellow fork tonight before Wout’s first day in yellow tomorrow. Dylan Van Baarle was going to start with a new Garmin 1040, but he wasn’t happy with some settings on the display and switched 100 plus before the off. It really wasn’t -25 ºC. Jumbo-Visma engineers had the power meter ID taped to the top tube for easier head unit pairing. Alpha Quick-Step vinyl features custom Wolfpack K-Edge head unit mounts. Geraint Thomas at least tried to warm up with Zwift but he couldn’t seem to connect. Maybe he forgot his password. Maybe he should have tried BrandAmbassador1. Mike Woods races a Darimo saddle to save every gram on his Factor Ostro VAM. It worked too, as you will see in the next article and video. Jakob Fuglsang went a step further to save a few grams and races with this bare carbon SLR Selle Italia saddle. The Israel-Premier Tech riders also have a new integrated cockpit that looks incredibly neat. Don’t forget to check the spare bike’s tire pressure. The team’s engineers also make a microphone. This way they can communicate with the team car in the event of a crash. Sometimes the mechanic and the car can become separated in the chaos and distance between the parts and the crash site.
