POC LAUNCHES THE SONAL TT HELMET

Combining years of experience, award-winning innovations, and deep collaboration with the riders and performance experts at EF Pro Cycling, POC is proud to officially launch the Sonal — its fastest helmet to date.

The Sonal takes a new view of rider aerodynamics by focusing on a rider's whole body rather than the head in isolation and uniquely comes in two sizes matched to shoulder width rather than head size.

It features an elongated front designed to deflect air flow at the high-pressure zone that typically forms at the front of a helmet, which adds drag, instead it guides the airflow smoothly around the helmet and over the rider's body.

The Sonal builds on the legacy of the Tempor, the helmet that POC ushered in a new era of time-trial design back in 2012. The Tempor radically overhauled the consensus of the time on how a TT helmet should perform and look, built on the guiding principle that a helmet shouldn't treat the head in isolation, but should be an integral part of the rider's whole profile.

The Tempor's approach took time to win over doubters, but that's long in the past now, with almost all major teams and riders using larger TT helmets that manage airflow around the body as a whole. It remains one of the fastest helmets available today — testament to its groundbreaking design. But despite its obvious benefits, POC kept asking whether it could do even better, a question EF Pro Cycling's performance team, who are constantly focused on aerodynamic optimisation, was asking too.

It was the perfect moment to explore, as POC's Director of Hard Goods, Magnus Gustavsson, explained: "We have been working incredibly closely with EF for well over a decade and have built a great relationship. It allows us to bring new ideas to the table, and everyone is eager to test them. We had long been interested in exploring a new TT helmet, and when EF asked if we thought we could improve on the Tempor's performance in time for the next Tour de France, a perfect opportunity developed and we all threw ourselves into it. The Sonal emerged as a result, and collectively we could not be happier with the result and its performance."

Andreas Klier, Sports and Technical Director, EF Pro Cycling, said: "Success in professional racing is built on performance and the very smallest of margins. We came to POC with some ideas and areas we wanted to focus on — notably, that aerodynamic performance was now needed by more riders, not just a few specialists. We wanted to develop something faster than the Tempor that would benefit even more riders. The Sonal delivered all that and more. We can already see in our testing that it will significantly improve performance for more riders, and it’s another example of POC pushing forward with a new way of thinking, creating products with incredible quality and relevance."

The Sonal has been developed using the same meticulous Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) testing and analysis that shaped POC's established Tempor, Cerebel, and Procen time-trial helmets — all of which provided valuable insight and benchmarking during the Sonal's development.

To gain an even deeper insight into each rider's specific time-trial position, EF Pro Cycling's performance team has been heavily involved throughout development, with numerous wind-tunnel tests and development stages alongside riders from the team.

AERODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE

As with all questions of aerodynamics and performance, it always depends on the specific rider. However, results from testing with the riders show that with both widths of the Sonal there was a significant improvement in aerodynamic performance. Tested against the already very fast POC TT helmets and at speeds we typically see in modern TT and track events, 60 km/h, the Sonal delivers average savings of 15 to 20 watts.

TWO WIDTHS

To make more riders more aerodynamic — and to treat the head and body as a single aerodynamic unit — the Sonal comes in two shell widths. Riders with shoulders narrower than 37cm should opt for the narrow; riders with shoulders wider than 37cm should opt for the regular size. Measurement is taken at the outer shoulders in a TT/aerodynamic position.

Both the narrow and regular width shells share the same internal helmet size, spanning head sizes 51–59cm — covering most small to medium-size heads. This means riders get a shell matched to their shoulder width without needing to worry about head-size fit separately.

VISION

Vision was integral to the Sonal's development and is critical to both safety and performance. The helmet has been designed to offer a full range of forward and peripheral vision while in a full TT position, without requiring the rider to strain to see clearly. This has been achieved by designing the helmet's forehead angle to match the rider’s line of sight without requiring head movement.

The Sonal also comes with two bespoke Clarity lenses — one clear, one tinted — for uninterrupted vision in changing light and weather conditions. Both are secured with magnets, allowing riders to swap lenses quickly and securely in seconds.

SAFETY

Beneath the aerodynamic shell, the Sonal is built to POC's renowned protection standards. Certified to EN and CPSC standards, the helmet provides all the required protection, and thanks to its wider form and internal structure, which are optimised for deformation in a crash, it also provides an additional safety buffer.

COMFORT AND PRECISION FIT

Thanks to meticulous attention to detail, the Sonal is comfortable to wear for extended periods. The helmet's balance on the head is perfectly neutral in a TT position, and its low overall weight makes it comfortable even over long efforts. Light padding removes pressure points, and a new Boa adjustment system makes dialing in a precise fit straightforward — ensuring the helmet stays securely in place even during maximum efforts.

WEIGHT

Despite its large surface area, the Sonal's innovative internal construction places protection and material precisely where needed, allowing the helmet to weigh a lightweight 440g and 490g, for the small and regular width respectively, and including the lens.

Magnus Gustavsson, Director of Hard Goods, POC, added: "We already knew that with the Tempor, Cerebel, and Procen, we had some of the fastest time-trial helmets in cycling. Our objective with the Sonal was to create the fastest, most aerodynamic helmet possible — and to make it work for more riders, because we know a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work in time trial. That's what led us to develop two distinct helmet sizes based on body and shoulder width, since airflow over the whole body — not just the head — is what ultimately creates the right aerodynamic profile."

NOTES TO EDITORS

PHOTOS BY
Grubers, Oscar Barkenbom and POC.

ABOUT POC
Born and based in Stockholm, Sweden, POC is a safety and performance pioneer on a global mission: protect lives and reduce the consequences of accidents for athletes and anyone inspired to be one. Creating all types of protection for cycling and snow sports, POC uses research, scientific methods and rigorous testing in its pursuit of innovation.

CONTACT
press@poc.com