New Aero Road Helmet From Ekoï Spotted Ahead of Tour de France

With the Tour de France just a few weeks away, it’s that time of year when brands start to release new products they hope will lead their teams to success at the biggest race of the year. In some cases, 
we have already seen them, just in an unbranded, or in this case, camouflaged form.

At the Giro d’Italia and more recently at the Van Merksteijn Fences Classic, top sprinters on Arkea-Samsic and Lotto-dstny were seen racing in a new helmet, presumably from French sponsor, Ekoï. The new helmet was covered in a camouflage wrap, similar to what you would see in the auto industry to try and hide some of the subtle details of the new product. We scowered the internet for images, and here is what we can put together so far.

The unnamed helmet looks to be focusing on the aero road segment as it has, so far, been exclusively seen on sprinters. The smooth, rounded shape is a bit of a departure from the AR-14 helmet that Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic), Caleb Ewan (Lotto-dstny), and other sponsored riders typically use. The AR-14 has two vents on either side of the front of the helmet, with a small dip in the center towards the back for a set of ram-style vents. Around the back, the current helmet has a bit more of a rounded shape.

The new helmet keeps a smooth profile from front to back, with just three tall, but narrow vents more centrally located on the front of the helmet. A long with the nearly full central panel on the shell, a small panel can be seen on the side towards the rear of the helmet. The shell looks to completely wrap around the internal EPS, which is a nice touch to help protect it. I haven’t seen a view of the back of the helmet yet, but the hard edge Kamm tail shape surely contains the exhaust vents to allow air out the back of the helmet. This should allow for a smooth transition for air exiting the helmet to join air coming around the helmet and flowing down the rider’s back.

I haven’t seen any images of the inside of the helmet yet either, but from the side, it looks like it uses a similar strap system to the Gara road helmet, with the use of a more structured splitter than the 
straps on the AR-14. It’s hard to tell, but the retention system also looks to be a holdover from the Gara, using an ATOP dial system and magnetic buckle.

Keep in mind, Ekoï recently announced a partnership with design house Pininfarina. While no details have been released yet about how the two brands are collaborating, this would be a product that would 
make sense. The Italian firm started as a coachbuilder in the auto industry and have a 60-year history with Ferrari, among other brands, and even their own highly sought-after short-run Pininfarina releases. 
While they have branched out to other areas of design, creating iconic vehicles like the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, Testarossa, and Modulo, have shown what the design house can do when performance and style are important goals of the project. 

More details to come closer to the start of the Tour.