THE PROS SET A TREND

It's a long and sometimes complex journey before crossing the line to the cheers of the crowd as a winner. A season has to be planned carefully because long distance triathletes only have one or two shots a year for a big race. Just like the pros, Castelli also leaves nothing to chance, and they are constantly thinking of how to improve products so that athletes can enjoy as many such moments as possible. This includes selecting the right fabrics, optimizing the pattern design, extensive in-house tests and, last but not least, sophisticated sessions in the wind tunnel. This spring they again went to the Milan wind tunnel with Marino Vanhoenacker to test new apparel ideas and refine his bike setup. Already some years ago it was proven that sleeves are faster than skin. Short sleeved race kits became indispensable for the best possible aerodynamics on the bike. A few years ago professional athletes with short- or even long-sleeved race suits were smiled at. Castelli was one of the first triathlon clothing brands to introduce a short-sleeved race suit with full zip, available for everyone in spring 2014 but proceeded by hours of testing in the wind tunnel and multiple prototype sessions to guarantee the best possible fit and performance. The Free Sanremo Suit SS is even more comfortable and can be worn for the entire race which means it allows enough freedom of movement also for swimming and running. It took a little while to convince professional athletes, but in the year 2015 this trend couldn't be overlooked. At Kona 2015 the top 10 men (16 of the top 20) were racing in short-sleeved tops (women: six of the top 10). Thus the pros set a trend and acted as a model for every ambitious triathlete.