Giro’s latest flagship aero helmet has amassed an impressive palmarès since the Visma-Lease a Bike teams started using it last year. It adorned the head of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot as she dominated the 2025 Tour de France Femmes; Wout Van Aert wore his Red Bull-decorated version to take the men’s Tour’s final stage on the Champs-Elysées and then bagged the biggest win of his career with it at Paris-Roubaix this year; Jonas Vingegaard used it in red and pink paintjobs to win the 2025 Vuelta and of course the 2026 Giro.
The Eclipse Pro was launched to the paying public in February 2026, where Giro confirmed all the facts and figures that it had only teased up to that point. I interviewed Giro’s senior industrial designer, Ash Lewin, at the press camp in Barcelona where Giro has its European Adventure Hub, and he told me how he and his team had found a 17 per cent aerodynamic saving over the previous version; how they had achieved its low weight of 280 grams and why the US brand was saying this was its “most advanced blend of aerodynamic innovation and performance protection to date, marking a new era for the aero-road category”.
Lewin is also the man behind the radically bulbous Giro Aerohead II TT helmet. He had looked simply at fast objects and designed it to mimic them as closely as possible: “The nosecone of a jet, a bullet train… we also looked at things that are simply efficient, like a shark, a fish, or a whale that uses that ability to move cleanly through air or water.”
But whereas the Aerohead II was all about pushing the limits of the UCI’s bounding boxes or maximum permitted dimensions, a road race helmet needs to be as compact as possible. As the team modelled different shapes in CFD, they found themselves with a long-tail and a short-tail version. Ultimately they went with the short one that was more versatile, but in testing different head positions they discovered that especially in the head-down position it was possible to, as Lewin explains, “move the air through a front channel, and that front channel splits into two different layers. We were able to really target the air that actually cools the brow and the base, where typically riders experience issues with eyewear fogging, or sweat build-up and drip. For me this was a very exciting innovation, something that translates to comfort for the rider as well as improving aerodynamics.”
There are 15 vents, which sounds like a lot for an aero helmet but, as you can see, they’re discreetly placed for maximum ventilation with minimum aerodynamic disruption.
The visually less exciting – but highly functional and potentially lifesaving – elements of the Eclipse Pro include Giro’s own Mips Spherical ball-and-socket technology. The outer section of the helmet rotates around the inner, designed to dissipate forces away from the head in a rotational impact. With this test version photographed here, the outer section is the matt-finished top, with swivels around the inner, whose gloss-finished sides are visible above the ears.
There's no independent Virginia Tech report for the Eclipse Pro yet, but the Giro Aries Spherical, which uses the same Mips system, gets a five-star rating.
Giro’s RocLoc 5.5 cradle is designed to hold the helmet just off the top of the head so that airflow can pass through, and at the brow is a pad of Giro’s DryCore ‘sweat management system’. It looks like foam but it’s almost hollow with an internal silicone bead that channels sweat off to the sides and stops it dripping into your glasses – it works surprisingly well.
The actual weight of the size medium Eclipse Pro is 283 grams – three grams above the claimed figure, but five grams lighter than the actual weight of the new S-Works Evade 4 I’m testing next. My other current favourites are the POC Cytal, which weighs 272 grams in real life but has much larger vents, and the Kask Protone at 238 grams, which also has lots more vents. For an aero helmet the Eclipse Pro is in disputably light.
Ride impressions
First of all, it’s extremely comfortable and I found it sat lightly and naturally just above the top of my skull – as advertised – needing very little tinkering with the adjustment system. I dialled up the RocLoc 5.5 and was ready to go. Even the straps were perfectly placed. Once under way, the helmet felt as if it wasn't there.
Everything depends on head shape of course, and my head is, if anything, slightly narrower than average, and a little narrower side-to-side than the default position of the Eclipse Pro’s cradle. So I’d say this helmet will fit a good range of head shapes. For comparison the S-Works Evade 4 seems slightly narrower in its ‘classic fit’ – but it also comes in a wide fit for rounder heads. There’s just the one fit for the Eclipse Pro and small, medium or large sizes (and plenty of colours to choose from).
As an aero helmet should, the Eclipse Pro sits low on the forehead just above glasses tops and leaves only a small gap above the ears – coverage is impressive.
On the subject of glasses, admittedly it’s not easy to add decent sunglasses ports to an aero helmet and still expect it to be aerodynamic. I found the Eclipse Pro wasn’t compatible with all glasses’ arm shapes – so you may have to rely on the DryCore to stop sweat from dripping onto the lenses, and leave the glasses on your face. My current favourites are the Rudy Project Kelions and happily those fit perfectly into the Eclipse Pro’s slots. SunGod GTs go in fine, Koo Spectros go in with a bit of coaxing but Rudy Project Spinshield Airs don’t go, neither do Bollé C-Shifters, and POC Propels fall out.
I first rode in the Eclipse Pro at the press camp in Barcelona in February. It was sunny but not warm, the sort of weather where the follically challenged are glad of an aero helmet. However, we warmed up climbing the Forat del Vent and then descended to the famous Horta velodrome where we did a few laps on outdoor wooden boards just for fun, so it was possible to get an idea of how the vents worked. Most obviously, the conventionally placed slots at either side of the forehead draw in the airflow, but as soon as you tip your head downwards, the channel on the top captures more air and it’s possible to feel the jet entering directly.
Back in the UK, where the temperature has hotted up recently, I’ve found there’s still plenty of air getting in even when it’s quite stifling out. At the Giro Vingegaard was wearing the vented Aries Spherical for he mountain stages, but Ferrand-Prévot was wearing the Eclipse Pro when she won on the Col de la Madeleine to take the yellow jersey last year. My verdict is that the Eclipse Pro can work fine as an all-rounder helmet for all of us all year round – except maybe those trying to win Grand Tour mountain stages in a heatwave.
And the looks? Yes, a helmet is there first and foremost to protect your head in the event of a crash, but the helmet brands know it has to also look good or people won't buy it. For me it helps that the Dark Sage Green colour exactly matches the Rouleur kit. Others on the Barcelona ride commented that it could be our official team helmet. But beyond the colour it has a distinctive futuristic yet elegant aesthetic – you can instantly pick it out on TV from the other aero helmets.
Value and conclusion
It’s a premium, pro-level racing helmet and the price is relatively high at £295 but about average compared with competitor flagship aero helmets at the time of writing (June 2026). The POC Procen Air is £370, the Kask Nirvana is £320 while the S-Works Evade 4 is £279 and the Met Manta £230 – though Pog has been spotted wearing an unreleased new version that may bump up the Manta's RRP.
In summary, the Eclipse Pro is an excellent helmet: comfortable, lightweight, cleverly and effectively vented, reportedly fast (though we haven’t wind-tunnel tested it ourselves) and definitely looks fast. It's expensive, but no more so than equivalent premium aero lids from other brands. If we can get a custom pink logo on it, we might have just found our 2026 Rouleur team helmet.
