Geraint Thomas kicked off his 2024 race season at the Volta ao Algarve. Finishing the five-stage early season race which was won by Remco Evenepoel in 65th place as he builds towards his tilt at both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France later in the season.
Thomas has ridden in Giro cycling shoes for the past several years but the Welshman was spotted racing in a sleek, new pair of white cycling shoes at the race that we haven't seen before.
At the Vuelta a España at the back end of last year Thomas was racing in white Giro Imperial shoes. Pictures from the Volta ao Algarve show the Ineos captain racing in something different. In a busy month for shoes and pedals the unusual Ekoi system fell foul of the UCI at the start of the month which meant riders had to buy their own shoes. Another pair of white (and black and gold) cycling shoes also caused a stir last week when Trek launched the new RSL knit cycling shoes as well as two other models.
A closer inspection of the shoes shows a double dial closure and simple uppers which feature some perforations. The dial closure layout looks similar to the S Works 7 road shoes, which we believe are now discontinued so it's probably safe to say this is just a similarity. There also appear to be some large venting sections on the shoe uppers.
The front of the shoe in the above picture appears to feature what looks like a Quoc logo, but these shoes don't look like anything that features in the current Quoc range and aren't the Mono II shoes we reviewed back in September 2022. Perhaps these are a prototype or new model that is in the pipeline for this year. We don't know whether Thomas has begun a new partnership or is simply testing out some fresh footwear.
Prototype shoes weren't the only tech to feature at the race. We also spotted World Time Trial champion Remco Evenepoel's monster 62 tooth chainring, which he used to good effect during the race's time trial.
Wout van Aert was also spotted testing out his new time trial position in what could be a year when he makes a concerted stab at the overall in some longer stage races including the Giro.
