The use of more aerodynamic time trial helmets in road races is a cycling trend that has found more success at the Grand Tours in 2025, with Picnic PostNL's Casper van Uden and his lead-out utilising the "just faster" equipment to help win stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia.
At the starting team presentation and rider sign-in prior to the stage 4 start in Alberobello, the Picnic PostNL squad all donned their usual road helmets. But when they appeared near the front in the final 5km of racing in Italy, four of them, including the Dutch sprinter, had changed into TT helmets, Lazer's Volante KinetiCore, with visors.
Van Uden was piloted around the tricky 11km Lecce circuit well, with Bram Welten's final lead giving him the perfect platform to launch his sprint and claim the biggest win of his young career.
While the "ugly" helmets may look out of place in road racing, marginal gains in cycling are still being improved down to the final details, so Van Uden didn't care about how he looked, only how fast he was going. With victory, he certainly wasn't complaining.
"With regards to helmets, I reckon they're just faster, so when it's faster, sometimes you just have to do it," said Van Uden in his winner's press conference.
"Maybe it doesn't look the best, but I don't care about looks, and we also said if we win today, then nobody will care. It is fast… Fast is maybe not always the most sexy or the nicest to look at, but if it makes me fast, then I'm wearing it."
Coincidentally, Van Uden won the sprint ahead of Olav Kooij, whose Visma-Lease a Bike team were one of the squads that drew attention as they started using old Giro TT helmets more in road races earlier this season.
Niklas Behrens changed into one in Oman to lead out Kooij for a stage win, and Wout van Aert even used one at Opening Weekend. After the former's efforts, the Visma riders pointed to his helmet in celebration, but today, it was Van Uden and co who were pointing at their TT lids as they celebrated past the finish.
Visma were not using them on today's stage of the Giro, for Kooij or any of the train, but will perhaps be wishing they did, after the Dutchman struggled in the wheels and had to sprint from far back to finish second after a far from ideal lead-out.
UCI points
Van Uden's sacrifice of looks for speed meant that Picnic PostNL scored a win and gained 180 vital UCI points that they desperately needed, after injuries and poor results have seen them heading towards a relegation battle.
The Dutchman stressed how the team were not overly concerned about the potential scrap to stay in the WorldTour, and that he trusted in the meticulous planning to see them come good.
"It's nice to grab the points, but we have faith that if we do as we have planned and follow the process, then we'll be fine," Van Uden said.
"All we can do is keep our heads down, work hard, and we'll see at the end of the season."
For him personally, too, this was a huge step up from his previous best of four pro wins at the ZLM Tour, Rund um Köln and AlUla Tour. Now 23, he put it down to a greater belief in himself and from those around him on the Dutch squad.
"Why did I win today? Because I really wanted it and I think everybody in the team believed in me, those are the two most important parts to get a win," said the Dutchman.
"It's a good feeling that I could do it and pay back their faith in me. Maybe I have to believe a little more in myself, today could help with that.
"Sometimes it takes a bit longer for someone to reach their first win at this level. I think everyone believed that I could do it, and I had to listen to them. It means a lot, and it's one of the bucket list things, so to have it ticked off is great."
Whether it was the helmets or greater self-belief, or a mix of the two, Picnic PostNL solved an equation they had been struggling to work out until now in the 2025 season, with only two wins so far, so expect both the quick lids and Van Uden to feature on the Giro's next sprint finish, likely on stage 6 into Naples.
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