A nostril for velocity – Dylan Groenewegen’s ‘beak’ sun shades miss dash check at Tour de France

There have been some extraordinary helmets in professional biking of late within the title of aerodynamics, however on stage 3 of the 2024 Tour de France Dylan Groenewegen shortly turned the highlight on sun shades.

The Jayco-AlUla sprinter was sporting a black angular nostril piece on his Scicon sun shades as he lined up in Piacenza. Attempting to seize the primary dash victory of this 12 months’s Tour was critical enterprise however the Batman-like stylings of the glasses nonetheless triggered loads of bemusement.

There was definitely no shying away from the difficulty within the Australian crew’s day by day stage video, which began with the Batman theme music and a blunt first query to Groenewegen: What’s in your face?

“Nose items … for the aero, so I’m going quicker,” stated Groenewegen, who additionally appeared bemused however not by the glasses, however reasonably by the quantity of consideration his eyewear was receiving earlier than the beginning.

“I just like the glasses and in sprinting you need to [be as] quick as potential and when you can change small issues, then that may change lots,” the rider added in an interview with ITV Sport.

Groenewegen might be seen sporting the distinctive glasses through the 230.9-kilometre stage 3 however he didn’t get to search out out whether or not the addition would actually assist him on his manner within the dash to the road in Turin.

As the rider completed fifth on the stage received by Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) there was no signal of the eyewear with the part that lined the nostril and had drawn a lot consideration – maybe a little bit an excessive amount of because it seems.

“I wanted to place it off, from the UCI,” stated Groenewegen by the use of clarification after the stage within the crew video. “That was a giant shock.”

When requested in the event that they had been a bit too aero, he added with a chuckle: “Yea I believe so. They didn’t see me pedalling so they are saying this isn’t honest sufficient, so we’ll cease these quick sun shades.”

The particulars of why are unclear – Cyclingnews has requested additional data from the UCI – however one factor is certain, there can be no want for the aerodynamic benefits for the sprinters on stage 4. The race is heading into the mountains so they’re way more prone to be that includes behind the sphere on Tuesday reasonably than the entrance of it.