Thomas De Gendt’s crash at the UAE Tour should be a wake-up call for the cycling industry

Manufacturers of carbon rims are increasingly adopting hookless rims, citing benefits such as lower weight, improved aerodynamics and reduced manufacturing costs.

Last week, though, on stage five of the 2024 UAE Tour, Thomas De Gendt suffered a high-speed crash while – seemingly – just riding along.

De Gendt’s wheels, a set of Zipp’s 353 NSW carbon wheels with hookless rims, were initially deemed to be at fault, but can we be sure about what actually happened, and could there be more to this story than meets the eye?

In this episode of the BikeRadar podcast, deputy editor, Jack Luke, and senior technical writer, Smon von Bromley, discuss the incident and what it might mean for the future of wheel and tyre tech on road bikes.

• Simon’s in-depth feature on the incident: https://www.bikeradar.com/features/tech/de-gendt-uae-tour-crash-are-hookless-rims-safe

Since this episode was recorded, Vittoria has released a statement seeking to clarify the cause of the incident: https://www.bikeradar.com/news/vittoria-statement-de-gendt-crash-hookless-rims 

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