Every year, the week leading up to the Tour de France is a time when brands are busy launching new products in an attempt to capitalize on the growing interest in the Tour de France. This year is shaping up to be the busiest in a long time, whether due to a late hangover from Covid or not.

Never one to be outdone, Specialized is launching not one, not two, but three new products. They are all helmets, and they all round out the brand's lineup of performance road helmets.

the S-Works Evade 3,

the S-Works Prevail 3, and

the S-Works TT5, each focused on road aerodynamics, road ventilation, and time trial.

You may be surprised to read that the new Evade 3 makes no claims of watts saved at unreachable high speeds or seconds saved in a 40 km time trial. In fact, no aerodynamic improvements are claimed at all.

Instead, Specialized's focus is on improving the ventilation of its flagship aero road lid, claiming to have improved the helmet's ventilation by 10% while maintaining the same aerodynamic characteristics. According to Specialized, this makes it the fastest choice for more stages and in warmer temperatures than before.

This was accomplished by using larger front vents to suck in more air and a rear "diffuser" to help reduce drag, offsetting the reduced aero characteristics caused by the larger vents. The small vents across the top, which most aero helmets employ to take advantage of the venturi effect that speeds up the expulsion of hot air, were also removed.

The Evade 3 is priced at £275.00 / US$300.00 / $475.00 Australian dollars and is available in small, medium and large. Depending on the region of purchase, it will be manufactured to CE or CPSC safety standards and weigh 260-300g for CE and 290-350g for CPSC construction.

Next up is the Prevail 3, and the main topic of discussion here is how Specialized has expanded on the technology introduced when it introduced the Prevail II Vento last year.

For the Vento, Specialized replaced some of the EPS foam "bridges" with aramid fiber braces just over 2 mm thick. According to the brand, these can withstand the same amount of impact, but their minimal size means improved ventilation and reduced weight.

Today's announcement eliminates the Vento name, but the ventilation holes themselves are much larger, and aramid fiber braces are now used. Aramid fiber braces are now used in the horizontal bridges throughout the helmet, five in the front quarter and three in the helmet top. As a result, the ventilated surface area has increased by 24.5 percent compared to the Vento.

In addition, by turning these carbon fiber braces around the entire skeleton around the head, Specialized says it has "rewritten cycling helmet design. This is called the AirCage, which Specialized describes as follows: "Upon impact, the AirCage technology is designed to act as a suspension bridge, distributing localized forces throughout the helmet. In addition, each brace has an aerodynamic elliptical shape based on the shape of the Tarmac seat post.

The Prevail 3 is priced at £275.00 / US$300.00 / $475.00 Australian dollars. The weight depends on size and necessary safety requirements, ranging from 250g to 300g for CE and 280g to 320g for CPSC.

Despite claims that the air cage can handle rotational impacts, Specialized did not follow Razor's lead and move away from MIPS technology in favor of its own solution. Instead, the two new road helmets feature Specialized's own new MIPS version, called the MIPS Air Node.

If you are wondering what MIPS is, it stands for Multidirectional Impact Protection System, which is explained in detail in the MIPS Helmet Guide. According to Specialized, the air node is built directly into the helmet's padding.

According to the brand, the combination of this technology and AirCage makes the Prevail 3 the second highest scoring bicycle helmet ever in independent helmet testing at Virginia Tech.

Making up for the lack of watt-saving claims above is the final helmet announced today, the TT5, a pure time trial helmet and perhaps the most divergent helmet from its predecessor.

According to Specialized, it was built using CFD and wind tunnel testing by Remco Evenpole and Kasper Asgreen, resulting in, in Specialized's words, "a 26-second savings on the Remco": "a 26-second reduction on the Remco 40km time trial." The inclusion of "Remco" in there is oddly specific, but suggests that it was tested at 50 km/h (or close to it) with a highly optimized setup in an aggressive riding position. While the differences from the other riders would be different, they would at least be positive.

The helmet is designed to allow air to flow from inside the helmet to the rear on either side of the rider's face. This airflow through the helmet helps air flowing around the helmet to flow out the back more smoothly in the gap between the head and shoulders, thus creating less drag. For its part, the helmet's construction includes what Specialized calls a "headsock," which, for lack of a better description, is an integrated balaclava that smoothes the contour of the ears, face, and hair.

Asked about the potential for heat buildup here, Specialized confirmed that the material used is thin and that the increased airflow can offset that increase; MIPS air nodes are used in the helmet's padding to protect the helmet from rotational impact; and the helmet's padding is made of a special material called "PTFE," which is a special material that is used to protect the helmet from the impact of the rotation.

The design of the helmet's lens is Class 1, which is related to the quality of its construction and helps avoid distortion. In addition, the lenses are coated with hydrophobic and anti-fogging coatings to improve visibility.

To keep things simple, the TT5 is also available in three sizes, priced at £275.00 / US$300.00 / A$475.00, but will not be available in the UK until early 2023.

All three helmets will be worn by Specialized-sponsored riders in the upcoming Tour de France, starting with the TT5 in the prologue in Copenhagen on Friday.

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