As ever the Tour de France is serving us up a veritable smorgasbord of new tech. Grabbing the headlines before the race even begun were a slew of new bikes spotted at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and as the Grande Boucle has rumbled on we’ve had a drip feed of new helmets, custom paint, and as ever some bonkers sunglasses. Dylan Groenewegen was spotted in a set of Scicon Aeroscope cycling glasses replete with an additional ‘aero beak’, which is a €350 aftermarket add-on.
While the splash these shades have made has been sizeable, not least because the Dutch national champion took the win on stage 6, eagled eyed fans (and cycling glasses connoisseurs) may have a sense of deja vu; the same beak has been seen before on the face of Tim Wellens when he was riding a recon of Strade Bianche way back in March.
Regardless of whether they are brand new or not, there are a few other eye-catching pairs of sunglasses out there from seasons past, which I’ll regale you with now.
Oakley Kato
The Oakley Kato is so ubiquitous now, adorning the faces of Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen, and record breaking Mark Cavendish. Cavendish helped develop what clearly paved the way for the nose bridge, and at the time of release, they were about as outlandish as cycling glasses had ever been in the modern era. Personally I think they look amazing, but in terms of absolute performance they are a little breezy. There’s no hard aero data on them, but they look slippery, so no wonder they are Cav’s shades of choice, ignoring the fact he’s had a career-long Oakley sponsorship.
Oakley Over The Top
Now we’re talking! The Over The Top is perhaps the most iconic pair of sports eyewear ever created, and while the straps never really played well with helmets, stymying its use amongst the peloton, David Millar did use a pair during a time trial, as did Frank Schleck, adding their names to a greater roster of wearers that included the likes of Flava Flav.
I’d like to say we will never see anything this bananas again, but never say never!
POC Propel
Not the most visually arresting of the bunch, but the POC Propel were the first cycling glasses that I can recall that are officially aero optimised. The gains are sub-watt size, but in a sport where the gains are becoming ever more marginal, it is no real shock to see them being used more and more on the faces of EF Education EasyPost this year. Having used them myself, they do offer a whopping panorama effect thanks to a monstrous wrap, if you can get past the aesthetics.
POC Elicit Ti
Hard to spot, and pretty rare, the titanium version of POC’s lightweight Elicit glasses are a full gram lighter than the plastic-armed model, and will set you back $400. I didn’t really think we’d see cycling glasses top them in terms of price, but if you take the Scicon shades of Groenewegen and add the nose piece the total cost is greater.
Still, these have the rarity factor as only a small number were ever produced.
Peter Sagan's motocross goggles
Longtime Sagan sponsor, 100%, liked to kit their star rider out with some outlandish eyewear just for his numerous podiums. Many people don't realise though that the brand started in the motocross business.
At one point the Slovakian superstar was regularly seen with motocross goggles on his head, or more often round his neck, following any race victory. Purists hated it, like when riders wear a baseball cap over a cycling cap, but it certainly garnered headlines for the sponsors.
