The racing season hasn’t started yet, but Saturday 27th July has been circled in red on Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert’s schedule for some time. It’s the day of the Olympic Time Trial in Paris.
Belgians use special clothing for the Time Trial
Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) rides through the season in a custom-made Time Trial outfit from Italy’s Castelli, partially fitted by Specialized. Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) takes part in his Time Trials in a custom suit from the Dutch AGU.
Both brands claim to have the fastest time trial suit. However, in a World Championship and/or Olympic Games, Van Aert and Evenepoel do not race for their brand’s team, but for Belgium and, therefore, in a time trial suit from the Bioracer brand which sponsors Belgian Cycling, reports the Belgian newspaper HLN.
Costumes are considered secrets by manufacturers
Since each producer has its own wind tunnel and the results of the wind tunnel tests are part of the factory secret, Bioracer solved the problem by building a dummy of Van Aert and Evenepoel, in an operation costing several tens of thousands of dollars. euros.
Independent aerodynamic testing will be carried out on these figures in the coming months to find out which is the fastest Time Trial suit.
Plenty of time to carry out tests with the presence of cyclists
“You can also test the cyclist, but this requires a lot of time and energy, especially with repeated tests spread over months. Furthermore, a comparison test with a dummy is more accurate.”
“A dummy remains static, while the cyclist constantly adopts a different position while pedaling his bike. In the latter case, you measure the difference between positions rather than the difference between Time Trial processes,” a source related to Soudal QuickStep told Belgian newspaper HLN.
Tests with the dolls begin today
Evenepoel’s doll will only be developed in March, but Van Aert’s process begins today. During a test run on the new Zolder cycling track, in addition to an assessment of his cycling position and current Time Trial outfit, a 4D scan of his position is also on the program. A doll will then be developed based on this scan.