Rudy Project officially unveils Wingdream helmet ready for Giro d’Italia time trial

Rudy Project has officially unveiled its Wingdream helmet which will be debuted by Bahrain Victorious during Friday’s individual time trial at the Giro d’Italia.

If it looks familiar, that’s because it is, having caused a stir at Tirreno-Adriatico in March when the WorldTour team were first spotted using it. Helmets don’t often garner that much attention but this one did thanks to its rather bulbous design. As it turned out, Rudy Project weren’t the only ones going more bulbous, with Visma-Lease a Bike sporting a similarly large Giro Aerohead ll helmet at the race, in what turned out to be an emerging trend.

Rudy Project has stayed true to this trend through what it describes as the “final version” of the helmet, which is still sporting a large look. It’s a design that the Italian brand says has been honed over two years and offers a 10-watt energy saving over its previous time trial helmet, the Wing.

Read more: Another radical TT helmet: Bahrain Victorious debut unreleased Rudy Project ‘Wingdream’

A larger helmet equals more aerodynamic

© Rudy Project

The helmet's wide design

If there were questions about the aesthetics of the more bulbous look when it was first spotted, there were no doubts about Rudy Project’s inspiration for the Wingdream’s design. Time trialling performance and aerodynamics go hand-in-hand, so it was obviously an attempt to save watts through a more aerodynamic design.

Rudy has confirmed this, with the shape of the helmet designed to direct airflow towards a rider’s shoulders - the wide profile is presumably designed to line up as closely as possible with the shoulders. This, it says, also manages turbulence along a rider’s back, as well as air penetration coefficient.

Beyond the 10 watts saved over the Wing, Rudy Project says the helmet offers significant time savings in triathlon events, which it is also designed for. This amounts to a claimed 306-second saving over a 180km Ironman distance compared to a regular road helmet, when riding at 200 watts.

These performance leanings haven’t come at the cost of safety, it says. According to the Italian brand, the helmet has been thoroughly tested by third-party bodies, including Dolomiticert, SIRC, and NEWTON, “proving safe in every aspect, from impact tests to rotational tests”.

"The world of helmet development is similar to Formula One: it requires engineering creativity, 3D studies, prototypes, wind tunnel tests, and athlete testing,” Norberto Fava, head of helmet production and industrialisation at Rudy Project, said about the design process. “There is a lot of research behind a product like this, which is subjected to continuous verification by the UCI and certification bodies.”

UCI approved…for now

The emergence of the Wingdream and Aerohead helmets at Tirreno-Adriatico also piqued the interest of the UCI, who aren’t afraid to ban tech that isn’t to their liking. It appeared the Wingdream could fall foul of cycling’s governing body too, when it announced an “in-depth analysis” on its regulations governing helmets. That came less than 24 hours after the Wingdream broke cover.

Read more: UCI bans Specialized head sock and fires warning to Visma's new TT helmet

As it turns out, Rudy’s helmet hasn’t been outlawed having gained UCI approval, hence why it will be used at the Giro d’Italia. This can change, though, as Soudal Quick-Step and Bora-Hansgrohe found out when their head socks were banned after being used by the teams for over a year.

While the helmet will be making its official WorldTour debut on Friday, it won’t be made available to the public until October. Rudy says two sizes and colours will be made available. It hasn’t confirmed any prices yet.

Keep up to date with the latest tech news on the GCN website.

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