VN tech ticker: custom Tour de France skinsuits, Garmin allows other apps to update Training Status
Here's what's making cycling tech headlines on Wednesday, June 30.
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Bespoke skinsuits in white and yellow for the Tour de France
The official manufacturer of the Tour de France jerseys, Le Coq Sportif, visited the hotels of Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel to measure them for bespoke time trial skinsuits for the white jersey and yellow jersey respectively. A special seamstress was brought in from Romilly-sur-Seine where Le Coq Sportif’s development and production workshop is located.
On Wednesday’s Tour de France stage 5 time trial, Pogacar rode to the stage win while van der Poel successfully defended his overall lead. Both were wearing the custom-tailored Le Coq Sportif suits.
Van der Poel, at 183cm tall and 74kg, wears a size medium suit and this posed challenges for manufacturing as the brand usually pushes out sizes extra-small and small sizes for the overall race leaders.
“It’s important that it’s comfortable, that it fits me 100 percent. It’s going to be a special moment,” van der Poel said. “It’s been special all week, and I’m going to try everything.”
In the 2020 Tour, Pogačar claimed the white jersey and also the yellow jersey on his time trial prowess in the penultimate stage.
#TDF2021 Post-stage custom fitting for the skinsuit for @TamauPogi in today's TT ⏱.
Pogačar: "We've done the fitting, now I just need to find good legs!"#UAETeamEmirates #RideTogether pic.twitter.com/3Ppowcfmlh
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) June 30, 2021
Garmin allows other apps to update Training Status
Garmin Connect now accepts direct data uploads from third-party apps, including Zwift, and will update your Training Status accordingly.
Garmin’s Training Status is an overview of your training habits over time, and is a metric that attempts to quantify how your training is progressing.
The data pulled into your account will now automatically count towards your Training Status, so you’ll have a more insightful picture of your fitness, as well as get suggestions for recovery time, and also types of workouts to do in successive training sessions to continue fitness gains.
Metrics included in the calculations are VO2 max, heat- and altitude acclimatization, and more. A heart rate monitor and power meter are required for advanced data calculations and analysis. Garmin indicates that activity load data — from a Zwift ride, for instance — will be visible in your Training Status reports, but it will not be visible in your activity details.
This feature is available for the Edge 530, Edge 830, and Edge 1030 bike computers as well as a range of wearable devices including late-model Fenix and ForeRunner series.