VAN RYSEL has introduced a new airbag-equipped aero skinsuit aptly called the AIRBAG, a fully integrated design that was developed for road cycling, marking a major step forward in the evolution of rider safety at the highest levels of the sport.
“As speeds in the professional peloton continue to increase, the gap between performance and protection has become impossible to ignore. Crash rates and severe injuries remain a constant issue at the WorldTour level, with around 20% of riders sustaining fractures each season. More than 1,300 fractures have been recorded in professional competition over the past six years, with injury rates continuing to rise year on year. Against that backdrop, Project AIRBAG reflects our ambition to help drive the next standard in cycling protection,” says VAN RYSEL.
Project AIRBAG is not an external add-on or under-layer system. It is a race-ready skinsuit built from the outset around integrated airbag technology, designed to protect riders in key impact zones while meeting the performance demands of elite competition.
The current version is already fully functional and is now in final validation with professional riders ahead of potential race deployment. In its complete configuration, including the airbag system, the suit has a target weight of approximately 700 grams, of which around 500 grams is the airbag system itself. That represents a significant reduction compared with airbag systems commonly used in MotoGP, where the airbag component alone can weigh around 1kg.
Jocelyn Bar, Product Manager at VAN RYSEL, said: “Behind every race number, there’s a human being and sadly, it is still widely accepted that a rider can lose everything in a fraction of a second due to a crash. At VAN RYSEL, this is a fact we no longer want to accept. What helmets represented 20 years ago, we think AIRBAG can represent today, but now, we’re looking beyond the head; we need to protect as much of the body as we can.”
FASTER AND SAFER: THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND PROJECT AIRBAG
Developed in partnership with airbag technology specialist In&motion, the AIRBAG system is built directly into a race-ready skinsuit, rather than added as an external component. The objective from day one was clear: create a solution that enhances rider safety without compromising the core requirements of elite racing.
Alongside the integrated airbag, the skinsuit also incorporates abrasion-resistant materials in typical cycling crash impact zones, helping to reduce the risk of road rash and other surface-level skin injuries.
AIRBAG deploys in 60 milliseconds and is based on technology already proven in MotoGP, where airbag systems are mandatory in competition and achieve extremely high reliability rates. For VAN RYSEL, the challenge was not whether airbag technology could work, but how to adapt proven protection systems to the unique demands of road cycling.
AIRBAG’s protection focuses on three critical areas, defined using a combination of biomechanical analysis, trauma research and epidemiological studies of cycling crashes:
The central core: aligned with the thorax and rib cage
The cervical zone: stabilising the neck to help prevent hyperextension
The spinal line: fully covered to protect the back
This first version has been designed to prioritise protection for vital areas of the upper body that are not covered by a helmet, with further protection zones to be explored over time.
The AIRBAG system is powered by impact-detection algorithms trained on more than 450 million kilometres of data, analysing rider dynamics up to 1,000 times per second to distinguish between normal race conditions and a genuine crash scenario.
Rémi Thomas, CEO of In&motion, said: “The strength of our technology lies in the scale and quality of the data we have accumulated over the years, with hundreds of millions of kilometres captured across high-intensity environments such as MotoGP and ski-racing. This dataset fuels machine learning algorithms capable of analysing rider dynamics in real time. With AIRBAG, we’re bringing that data-driven intelligence into cycling for the first time, enabling ultra-fast, highly reliable crash detection tailored to the unique dynamics of road racing.”
Maxime Dezoomer, Engineer at DECATHLON, said: “In cycling, we’ve always thought you had to choose between performance and safety. We don’t believe that anymore. This isn’t something you add on; it’s a complete system, built into the suit from the outset, designed to protect the rider without changing how they perform. Our objective was very clear: with or without the airbag, the rider must feel exactly the same. That’s what guided every decision, aerodynamics, thermoregulation, weight, everything.”
The skinsuit’s current iteration has been developed in collaboration with aerodynamic specialists Swiss Side, with the aim of matching the performance of a traditional WorldTour suit. This process has included repeated wind tunnel sessions, supported by a series of CFD simulations to refine airflow and optimise aerodynamic efficiency. This testing will continue as AIRBAG is refined further.
Thermoregulation has been a central focus throughout development, with AIRBAG designed to match the heat dissipation of a traditional race skinsuit. Validation is ongoing through a structured testing programme, combining on-bike data collection using thermal sensors at race intensity with controlled climate chamber protocols that simulate peak summer racing conditions.
AIRBAG IN THE PRO PELOTON
Beyond laboratory conditions, the system is being co-developed and validated with professional riders from the Decathlon CMA CGM team, as well as VAN RYSEL ROUBAIX. The project is also being developed in close dialogue with wider safety initiatives in the sport, reflecting VAN RYSEL’s ambition not only to innovate as a brand, but to help move rider protection forward across cycling as a whole. The current iteration is already operational, with final validation from professional riders representing the last step before potential race deployment.
Dominique Serieys, General Manager / CEO of Decathlon CMA CGM: “Professional cycling is getting faster and faster, which makes protecting our riders an absolute necessity. The airbag developed by VAN RYSEL is a true technological breakthrough. It is crucial to understand that a rider who feels safe is relieved of mental load: this peace of mind is a genuine performance gain. Thanks to the exceptional attentiveness of the VAN RYSEL teams and the expertise of In&motion, we are now beginning testing with the riders to fine-tune the technology as much as possible, so that we can one day use it in racing.”
FROM ELITE RACING TO WIDER ACCESSIBILITY
VAN RYSEL plans to make airbag technology available to retail customers within the next two years, building on more than a year of development and a product that is already functional and undergoing professional testing. While Project AIRBAG has been developed for the demands of elite racing, the long-term ambition is broader: to help democratise advanced protection and make airbag technology part of cycling’s future at every level of the sport.
For VAN RYSEL, the long-term vision is clear: to establish airbag protection as a new safety standard in cycling over the next decade, in the same way helmets became an accepted and essential part of the sport.
Jocelyn Bar, Product Manager at VAN RYSEL, added: “Performance has no meaning if it isn’t safe. As an industry, we have to take responsibility and move forward. Project AIRBAG is our commitment to that future, a future where cyclists can continue to experience the thrill of speed with greater confidence and greater protection.”
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