Since Garmin Sharp pro Ryder Hesjedal in the summer of 2013 at the Tour de France with glasses called POC DID was on the road, the rumor mill about POC and Garmin-Sharp simmered non-stop. Sending a celebrity rider like Hesjedal to the planet's biggest cycle race with goggles that are beyond unconventional and not at all aerodynamic was quite an ingenious marketing coup. In what feels like every third photo of the 2013 tour, the Canadians grin cheekily at one and the eye-catching glasses are the focus.
So the step was only logical that POC and the Garmin-Sharp team now officially join forces. POC completely equips the US team with helmets and goggles. The helmets octal, Octal Aero and temporary into special Garminum Blue colored to match the team's shade of blue.
However, this almost neutral color does not correspond to POC's safety thinking, which is why the team should only wear the helmets in blue during the race, but in bright POC orange during training, like the octal has already been tested by us. [Link]
For POC boss Stefan Ytterborn, improving safety through design is always the top priority. Of course, this is first and foremost about the colors. This is called bloc colors in technical jargon – three large, colored areas can be recognized from a great distance; far better than a jersey in the same three colors but in a squiggly design.
“We are breaking new ground in road cycling and we will do our utmost to fulfill our mission to do our part to save lives.”
At POC, one would certainly have wished that Garmin-Sharp would rely on the new clothing series for racing cyclists and not only wear the new collection on their heads but on their whole bodies. POC already presented the new road bike collection under the AVIP (Attention, Visibility, Interaction, Protection) label in Stockholm last summer. What the Swedes managed to do from 0 to 100 is really impressive ... not just jersey and shorts ... no, everything a racing cyclist could need in the course of a season in terms of clothing was designed to work together, from arm warmers to socks , from rain jackets to gloves. Everything would actually be there to satisfy even a demanding team. We don't know whether it ultimately failed because Garmin-Sharp still has an ongoing contract with outfitter Castelli or whether the equipment of one of the best pro teams in the world would have been too big for the Swedes to begin with, we don't know.
In any case, it's nice to see POC no longer just in athletes who primarily ride downhill, but also uphill when it comes to big victories in professional cycling.