Cycling is a sport that attracts obsessives - obsessed with weight, speed, nutrition, aerodynamics but most importantly obsessed with winning. It's easily done to go down the rabbit hole and lose sight of the end goal, riders dropping body weight to the point that their fitness goes with it or riding in such an extreme aero position that they can't squeeze the power out.
At Dessus, it's key that we never lose sight of the finish line; everything we do has to feed into getting your hands in the air in the real world. When we set out with the aim of designing the fastest aero jersey on the market, it had to be a significant gain and applicable to real riders in the real world. On the bike, the psychology of tangible aero gains is massive, we all know the feeling of fast wheels or an aero frameset is great, can you say the same for aero valve covers?
The Dessus Aero.21 has been designed by cyclists with a knowledge of aerodynamics, not aerodynamicists with a knowledge of cycling - thats the key, every change we make, every prototype, feeds back onto the tarmac; it's not an exercise in producing ever-decreasing CdA figures on paper or CFD models.
That being said, we do have the data to back up the Aero.21, tested with the cutting-edge, on-road tech from Body Rocket. In a world where infinitesimal gains are hailed as unmissable, the 8-16w saved by the Aero.21 at threshold over a standard cycling jersey are huge and the gains are even bigger with loaded pockets. We've achieved this by thinking outside of the box and designing from the ground up. Just because cycling jerseys have traditionally had a front zip and three open pockets, it doesn't mean that they always should be designed that way, especially if they are a detriment to your speed. Fabric technologies have made huge steps forward over the last couple of decades, it's time for the structure of cycling jerseys to do the same and lose their vestigial tail.