Wout Van Aert, Marianne Vos and their Team Jumbo Visma teammates are set to wear newly designed helmets at this year's Paris Roubaix and Paris Roubaix Femmes, having also worn them during their pre-race recon rides on Thursday.
Based around the Lazer Vento helmet, which features the novel Kineticore rotational impact protection technology, the new helmets will be painted to resemble the human brain, using a pink base colour, with black and yellow markings to create brain-like contours.
The gory design will certainly capture the attention of onlookers at the race, exactly as it is intended to do. In posts shared on the team's social media, Jumbo Visma say they are hoping that with their use, they can raise awareness of the importance of wearing a helmet at all, with the goal of increasing helmet use.
The announcement came alongside a link to a new website set up by the team and their helmet-sponsor Lazer. Called UseYourHead, it features interviews with doctors who have dealt with brain injuries caused by bicycle crashes, stats backing up helmet use, and case studies from riders who have suffered from head injuries when crashing without a helmet.
"Accidents do happen and although we cannot prevent these accidents from happening, we can put the importance of wearing a helmet in the spotlight," the website reads. "Lazer, together with partner Team Jumbo-Visma, are addressing this social problem by raising awareness of the importance of wearing a helmet with a goal to increase helmet use. What better way to capture the attention of many than showing up with a distinctive and outspoken helmet design at the start of one of [the] world’s biggest cycling races: Paris-Roubaix"
The website also claims that head and brain injuries are reduced by 88% when wearing a helmet, while neck and face injuries come down by 33%. It also states that in the Netherlands alone, 50,000 bicycle accident victims per year visit the emergency department, with a quarter of those - 12,500 - having a brain injury.
This is in fact the second brain-designed helmet we've seen in recent times, with Scottish brand Endura recently announcing Project Heid, which included a range of its own helmets painted with the CT scans of real patients' life-threatening brain injuries following bicycle accidents. That campaign, which coincided with Brain Awareness Week, saw the helmets auctioned to raise money for The Brain Charity.
All UCI-sanctioned races require riders to wear helmets, of course, but Paris-Roubaix, with its gruelling cobbled terrain, will undoubtedly – and unfortunately – see its fair share of crashes. Even with the best road bike helmets on the market, pro riders can become concussed from a fall, only recently has it affected Strade Bianche winner Tom Pidcock.
Interestingly, despite the campaign, Van Aert isn't giving up his usual Red Bull helmet design entirely. The Belgian's helmet typically features a Red Bull theme to mark his personal sponsorship deal, and for this weekend's race, he looks set to wear a helmet that combines the two themes into one.
🔍🧠Our riders will wear this unique helmet during #parisroubaix. pic.twitter.com/n5o0F6BA9pApril 6, 2023
