Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma Lease-a-Bike teammates have been spotted using what looks like a new pair of Oakley sunglasses on their December training camp Denia, Spain.
The Dutch team, now in its third year of sponsorship with Oakley, released a video of its training camp yesterday. In it, the potentially new glasses are pictured front and center on the two-time Tour de France winner.
Seemingly an iteration of the Oakley Kato design, the glasses were shared by cyclingspy on Instagram, and feature a large singular lens that looks to feature a finned design at the edges somewhat akin to the Scicon Kunken shades.
When the Oakley Kato sunglasses were released all the way in the summer of 2021, the shades were praised for a wide field of view. The new sunglasses seem to follow suit here, with a large lense that looks to be even bigger than the Sutro sunglasses.
The Kato's also looked rather 'aero' in their design too. Though Oakley never specified whether the design was one a wind-tunnel-forged one, the brand did say the glasses "remove limitations and provides the wearer with the confidence to be at their best, unlocking their inner superpower.”
Vingegaard's new sunglasses have a similar sci-fi aesthetic, and even include some small fins each side of the frame. So are they aero sunglasses?
It's fair to say that when Dylan Groenewegen's 'aero beak' Scicon sunglasses broke cover at the Tour de France last year, the internet was a wash with facetious memes and comments. Some praised the innovation - or though not that many - and many totally disregarded the need for such changes to what is at heart a simple, single function product.
The combination new shades' shaped nosepiece and finned design begs the question of whether Oakley is jumping on the aero-sunglass bandwagon. Whether this is an aerodynamic detail, or simply a stylistic choice remains to be seen, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see some watt-saving remarks made about these glasses when they do launch.
