Tour de France

As is the case with everything from seat post to spokes, a helmet is never just a helmet in cycling. While football, baseball and hockey focus on comfort and protection, aerodynamic performance is paramount on the bike. High tech helmets promising to cut through the wind a millisecond faster are launched throughout a year, but the best is saved for the Tour de France. Say hello to the Rudy Project Wingspan Time Trial Helmet.
 

After years of trying, and often failing, to play catch-up with drug cheats, anti-doping authorities signaled Thursday that they may actually be pulling ahead, with reports that a high-profile cyclist at the Tour de France has been busted for a drug so new few people had even heard of it.

The Tour de France has made a critical change in protocol that could greatly alter race strategy, regarding how it provides real-time updates. For a decade, attacks by specific riders were immediately broadcast over an official communication channel, Radio Tour, and directly into the follow cars where directors for each team were listening. Depending on the specific rider(s), the specific team, and the size of the lead, directors in each car would instruct their team through helmet-mounted radios on whether to give chase or lay back.