Vincenzo Nibali's vest with ice cubes stuck on looked crude compared to Orica-GreenEdge's long-sleeved top with ice cold water being pumped through.
With temperatures soaring into the high 30s Celsius for the Tour de France stage 1, 13.8km time trial, in Utrecht on Saturday, teams were out in force trying to keep their riders cool.
The master against the watch in recent years, Tony Martin of Etixx-QuickStep complained of “baking” during his effort; the powerful German losing out on the stage win by just five seconds to Australian Rohan Dennis (BMC).
And with such a real need to keep their riders cool – and also presented with the massive opportunity to show off sponsors’ kit that the Tour brings – some new items were on show to keep riders' core temperatures from rising to uncomfortable and performance-limiting levels.
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In the clip below, Vincenzo Nibali showcases his ice vest; a device with a freezing cold substance inside – usually ice or phase change material - made even colder by the addition of ice cubes crudely stuck on to the exterior.
Tinkoff-Saxo, below, were using similar vests; though minus the addition of stuck-on ice cubes.
And Dan Martin’s Cannondale-Garmin squad were using a similar cool vest device, also below.
Their riders’ vests were supplement by women’s tights filled with ice cubes being stuck down jerseys and shorts before the TT to ensure the riders were as cool as possible at the start of their race.
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The Orica-GreenEdge team took the prize for the most hi-tech looking piece of cooling kit, below.
Their Craft Sportswear cooling vest is a light long-sleeved top with tiny tubes all over pumped with ice cold water.
Because the water is always moving through a cooler and circulating through the top, the vest remains at a constant temperature irrespective of the heat generated by a rider warming up or indeed the heat of the sun.
The Trek Factory Racing boys wore both cooling vests and smaller devices on their wrists; the team saying the wrists are a key part of the body for keeping as chilled as possible all over.
Luke Durbridge warms up his body for his TT without overheating his core temperature using this device. Ice cold water is pumped constantly through the tiny tubes that run all over of this Craft Sportswear top.
Trek Factory Racing taking the belt and braces approach; keen to keep their riders cool by focussing on the upper body and wrists.
Tinkoff-Saxo's cooling vests weren't as complicated as the Australian's. Their vests were simply cooled in the freezer before being taken out when the riders were ready to wear them.
Cannondale-Garmin went with the vest option, like Tinkoff-Saxo. But they also filled tights with ice and tied them at both ends before putting them in the freezer on the team bus. The riders then simply stuck them anywhere they wanted in order to keep cool when they needed to.
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