World TT Champion Remco Evenepoel has called out the UCI over an apparent mis-match between an email his team received stating that time trial head socks had been banned on April 1 and a statement on the UCI website that they were no longer allowed from April 2.
At Itzulia Basque Country’s opening time trial, Bora-Hansgrohe riders, including stage winner Primož Roglič, continued to use the head socks for the event, despite their imminent ban by the UCI.
Soudal-QuickStep, on the other hand, did not do so, with Evenepoel claiming that his squad had received an email stating that they were banned from April 1.
Evenepoel finished fourth, 11 seconds down on Roglič, in the time trial after a crash - for which he blamed himself - in the opening 200 metres of the course on a very slippery corner, incurring a minor injury on his right leg.
Roglič, too, had an eventful time trial, going off course at the vehicle deviation in the last 200 metres, but then returning to win the stage.
Evenepoel, though, expressed disappointment that the date in the email sent his team by the UCI was apparently incorrect.
“Before the time trial in Paris-Nice, the UCI already indicated that this would be the last time with that helmet,” Sporza.be and other Belgian media outlets quoted Evenepoel as saying. “We received an email that it was banned from April 1.”
Evenepoel emphasised that the difference between having a head sock or not would not have made a difference in the outcome of the time trial.
“But it's just strange. The UCI is starting to think of all kinds of things,” he claimed.
The Specialized headsock was first used in the 2022, with Soudal-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe, who both work with the North American sponsor, both employing it.
The UCI announced in early March that a ban was imminent, as part of the wider review into their own rules governing helmet design. The news of their investigation came a few hours after Visma-Lease a Bike unveiled the strikingly different Giro Aerohead II time trial helmet, as used by Jonas Vingegaard both at Tirreno-Adriatico and again in Itzulia Basque Country.
The statement by the UCI released at the time states clearly that the ban is effective from April 2, not April 1.
"As a result, the Head Sock integrated into the TT5 helmet will no longer be permitted for use at events on the UCI International Calendar, effective from 2 April, 2024."
Cyclingnews reached for comment from Specialized at the time of the news of the ban, with the company stating: “Specialized is disappointed in this decision as it greatly impacts our riders and teams that have spent a significant amount of time preparing with the equipment that was UCI approved. We’ll continue pushing the boundaries of innovation to support our athletes with the highest performing product possible.”
At the time, Evenepoel himself described the upcoming ban as "laughable".
"Two years ago, they authorised our helmet, and now they’re taking it out. I kind of feel like they want to play with our balls. It's not very friendly what they're doing. There are other teams that are almost riding with a time trial helmet in the peloton. I’m thinking of EF Education-EasyPost.
"They’re dragging cycling into the ridiculous and they’re making all the riders turn against the UCI.”
