The Race Against Time
For the past three years, we have worked with researchers, aerodynamicists, and pro cyclists to create our fastest time trial outfit yet. Ridden by team EF Education–EasyPost at the Tour and available soon, this is the story of our search for speed.
Approaching the startline is never the beginning of a race. There's months of physical training that got you there, not to mention the mental preparations you make in the lead up to the line up. But when the margins are as tight as those faced by professional athletes at the world’s biggest races, training and nutrition can only take you so far. When fractions of a second make the difference between first and third place, your search for speed must go deeper.
As EF Education–EasyPost rolled down the start ramp of the 2023 Tour’s individual time trial, they did so knowing their kit was the culmination of years of research and development. Together with leading sports scientists, engineers, and aerodynamicists, our latest Pro Team Time Trial Suit is our fastest ever – with a saving of 12.4 watts at 55kp/h over the previous team issue package.
In the search for the fastest possible fabric combinations, the Rapha design team tested more than 100 materials at the UK Sport Science Institute at Loughborough University. Textured fabrics designed to reduce drag have been paired with airflow-assisting smooth fabrics to create an optimised fabric suite across the suit, socks, overshoes and mitts.
And the whole outfit truly does make a difference. Our testing went beyond standard tunnel models to recreate – as closely as possible – the actual environments riders face on the road. While watts saved and seconds gained can be maximised in controlled conditions, it’s the advantages on the outside that count.
“We configured the test environments in the wind tunnel to replicate the conditions found in grand tour time trial stages, which included multiple speed and wind angles”, explains Dr Barney Wainwright – Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University, and a practitioner in cycling aerodynamics and biomechanics. “This attention to detail and specificity, which considerably increased the time required in the wind tunnel, provided detailed insight which differentiated between small differences in pattern and fabric.”
Over 40 versions of the suit – and its component parts – have been tested over six sessions in the wind tunnel, with final adjustments made to seam placements, fabric tension, fit and garment construction techniques. The research is relentless, the gains are small. But added together, they are the difference. A process of years to save you seconds.