-quote giorgitd]At a USAT sanctioned race last week, as I was walking into transition, a course worker said ‘…you’re not wearing the visor on that helmet, are you?’. It’s a Giro Aerohead with a magnetically captured visor BUT I find that fiddly to race with, especially for sprint distances, and normally just wear glasses, no visor. I reported that, he said ‘good’ and I proceeded to set up. Now, a week later, I was thinking about this - are visors disallowed for USAT / WT competitions? I looked at the WT competition rules and ‘visor’ does not appear anywhere. Any insight on this? I’m racing some Olympic distace races later this year and might use the visor for those…
And, another curiosity…while skimming the WT rules, I noticed that, for draft legal events, BTS bottles are disallowed. I wasn’t aware of that and, presently, it’s the only way I carry fluid on the bike (my event IS draft legal). Hmmm…I mean, I sort of get it, but was completely unaware of this rule.
It seems the way USAT has written their 2024 draft legal-rules varies from how World Triathlon (WT) has written their 2024 draft-legal rules.
USAT’s equipment rules are Section 5.9 (a-g) and WT’s equipment rules are Section 5.2 (a-g). The difference is that USAT uses Section 5.9 (g) to refer back to Section 5.2 for helmets. USAT section 5.2 is similar to WT Section 5.2 (g).
- USAT 5.2(a) is equivalent to WT 5.2(g)(ii)
- USAT 5.2(b) is equivalent to WT 5.2(g)(iii)
- USAT 5.2(c) is equivalent to WT 5.2(g)(iv)
- USAT 5.2(d) is equivalent to WT 5.2(g)(iv)
- USAT 5.2(e) is equivalent to WT 5.2(g)(v)
- USAT 5.2(f) is equivalent to WT 5.2(g)(vi)
- USAT 5.2(g) is equivalent to WT 5.2(g)(vii)
- USAT 5.2(h) has no WT equivalent: “Helmets with any segment covering the ears are not legal for use in draft-legal events.”
- WT 5.2(g)(i) is equivalent to the general statement of USAT 5.2 prior to its subparts.
WT’s 5.2 (j)(i) states: Illegal equipment includes, but is not limited to: headphone(s), headset(s), technical earplug(s) or spart helmets which are inserted or covering the ears. I thought this might align with USATs no covering the ear rule but they continue to define a smart helmet as: “bike helmet with a built-in sound system covering or not covering the ears.” So that would not be the same as USAT’s no covering the ear rule by my interpretation as they are seeming to reference electronics covering the ears and not the helmet construction.
The difference is that USAT does not allow anything on the helmets to cover the ears for use in draft-legal events. That would then disallow the use of the Giro Aerohead with visor for USAT draft-legal events as it covers the entire ear (of all wearers that I have seen) versus being allowed for WT draft-legal events as there is no specific mention for helmets covering the ears.
One other thing to take note of is that World Triathlon’s Section 5.2 (a) for ALL Cycling Equipment and not just Bicycle Specifications is:
(a) In general, UCI rules, as of January 1st of the current year, will apply during competition and also during familiarization sessions and official training:
(i) UCI road race rules for draft-legal triathlon and duathlon competitions;
USAT does not specifically mention UCI rules in Section 5.2 for helmets but only lists them in Section 5.9 in reference to Bicycle Specifications. Whereas World Triathlon mentions UCI rules in sub-section (a) of Section 5.2 for Cycling Equipment in general. The UCI rule on helmet visors is: Article 1.3.031: “Add-on helmet visors or covers are authorized provided that they are supplied by the helmet manufacturer.”
So, helmet visors are not disallowed per USAT or WT rules. They just need to be supplied by the manufacture under WT’s (UCI’s) rules and not cover the ears to not fall foul of USAT’s rules.
The question now is if the new Kask or POC aero road helmets that have a section that only covers just the very top section of the ear would be deemed illegal under USAT’s draft-legal rules? It is approved by the UCI for road racing so would be approved for WT draft-legal racing.
All that being said, other federations may have their own rules for helmet visors that override WT’s rules that I am not aware of as I only ever deal with USAT rules.
