Cycling enthusiasts and athletes alike may have noticed a shift in helmet choices recently, with Jonas Vingegaard donning a helmet that doesn’t quite match the rest of his Visma-Lease a Bike team’s kit. This change stems from a sponsorship deal with Bygma, a private sponsor. Vingegaard isn’t alone; Red Bull has long been involved in sponsoring riders such as Tom Pidcock and Zoë Backstedt, not only in cycling but also across other sports like cliff diving and bouldering. This trend is becoming more common, but does it offer a solution to one of cycling’s biggest challenges: rider identification?
It’s a development I personally welcome. As a fan, I’ve always been concerned about how athletes often struggle to earn enough, so any additional sponsorship that helps generate more funds is a positive. More importantly, I’ve long argued that if each rider on a team wore a different color helmet, it would make them easier to spot during races. Although my initial motives were based purely on convenience for viewers like me, I’ll admit that the sponsorship-driven evolution of this idea doesn’t bother me — as long as it helps solve the issue.
I, for one, struggle with identifying riders, both in real life and on TV. One memorable experience occurred during my first winter at a cycling club. I befriended a rider who had a blue Cannondale bike, only for him to switch to a green one in the summer. Suddenly, I didn’t recognize him at all and had to introduce myself again. I had unknowingly become friends with his bike, not the rider.
It’s an amusing example of how easily cyclists can blend into the crowd. Yet, strangely enough, I sometimes find myself recognizing them from afar, thanks to a particular pedaling style or the angle of their head. Once, I even identified my friend Bernard in the dark from the distinctive way his backlight bounced over potholes.
When watching racing on TV, it’s easier to spot the stars — the big names or fan favorites often stand out by their posture, their cycling style, or, most notably, their helmets that never seem to sit properly. National champions are easy to spot with their stripes, but for someone like me, even that isn’t enough. In a race with 200 riders speeding at 50 kilometers per hour, it often feels like a high-speed version of Where’s Wally.
Some seem to have an almost supernatural ability to identify riders. I’ve sat alongside professional commentators who can instantly recognize a second-string rider from Caja Rural-Seguros among a group of early attackers. I once expressed my astonishment to one of them, and he replied nonchalantly, “Well, he was in a break at the Basque Country in 2018,” as if that answered everything. For me, though, the ability to pick out riders from such a large group remains a mystery.
While I may be particularly bad at it, I suspect that many cyclists are not the best at picking people out in a crowd. I recall an amusing memory from a book promotion event when I met someone who didn’t recognize me at all, despite our earlier conversation. As it turns out, we had both been at the same event, but there wasn’t even a hint of recognition when I took the stage.
This brings me back to my original point: color-coded helmets. Such a simple idea could help both fans and cyclists better identify riders in the sea of competitors. It’s a solution that seems to make sense, though one that will likely only gain traction if the business of sponsorship continues to grow in cycling. It may not be the perfect world, but if it helps viewers and participants, it’s a step in the right direction.
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