Updated November 14, 2025 09:22AM
Red Bull and Specialized bikes have taken the chase for the Tour de France to an unbelievable level of nerdiness.
The two sponsorship superpowers just sent Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe down a 1.7-mile tunnel filled with helium bubbles and laser beams.
Why?
To dial in its data models.
Yes, you read that right. The “PIV” testing carried out by cycling’s new powerhouse won’t directly inform the bike fits or skinsuits of its new superstar Remco Evenepoel.
They were tests to dial in other tests, data models, and aerodynamic trickery.
It’s an application of technology typically reserved for F1 and aerospace that cranks up the stakes in cycling’s super-team arms race of science, facilities, and artificial intelligence.
“As a point of progression, this is pivotal. As far as I’m aware, it’s the first time a cyclist has been through a PIV laser sheet,” Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe performance engineer Dan Bigham told Velo.
“It’s a massive step forward for us, but it’s also a statement of intent of where we want to get to.”
This “first in cycling” use of PIV – “Particle Imaging Velocimetry” – provides a glimpse into cycling’s wild new future of escalating budgets and sizeable stakes.
Red Bull plans to be the first to step through cycling’s Stargate.
“It’s not only about bringing performance this very moment or second, or potentially even in the coming months or next year. It’s something that’s about long-term development,” Bigham said.
“We’re not here for short-term, quick wins. We’re here for long-term, sustainable, high-level performance.”
And you thought data engineers, performance centers, and $20k super bikes were extreme?
Turns out it’s only the start.
An underground tunnel, some bubbles, and some lasers … [yes, this is cycling]
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe is reportedly the first cycling team to use PIV technology. (Photo: George Marshall / Red Bull Content Pool)
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe could barely contain its excitement when it uncorked a press statement explaining its new PIV nerdery.
“This is the beginning of a new era in cycling. It’s fundamental research that will shape the development processes of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Specialized for years to come. Because those who understand the air, control the race,” read the note published this week.
So what the heck merits all this hype?
Bora-Bull conducted its “race-controlling” research at the Catesby Tunnel, a one-of-a-kind facility based down a decommissioned railway tunnel in the green mundanity of central England.
LaVision – a leading force in aerospace software and research – came along for the ride.
Catesby’s 1.7-mile long, 27-foot wide (2.7km x 8.2m) tunnel hasn’t seen a train in more than 60 years. But it has been welcoming motorsport teams and aero aficionados ever since a bunch of nerds bought it out and built “The Catesby Project” in 2021.
The dead-straight, fully sealed tube offers engineers a fully controlled environment. There’s no wind, the temperature is controlled, and the gradients are known.
It’s perfect for PIV testing, a technology that’s been used in F1 for decades.
“Particle Imaging Velocimetry” uses millions of microscopic helium bubbles illuminated by lasers to make air movement visible.
It enables eight super-speed cameras to capture and measure the movement of the “rough air” left in the wake of a car, bike, or space-thingy as it zooms through the ethereal green cloud.
The data has a real-world accuracy that can’t be matched by the CFD [Computational Fluid Dynamics] aerodynamic models run by the super-computers of the pro cycling’s biggest teams.
What’s the point?
Red Bull sees Evenepoel and Lipowitz as its grand tour future as Roglič rides toward retirement. (Photo: CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)
Red Bull and its science guru Bigham plans to use PIV data to fine-tune the CFD simulations they run to tweak bike fits and equipment choices.
“The combination of CFD, wind tunnel, track, and real-world testing creates an integrated system that allows performance and rider positions to be analysed with unprecedented precision,” the Red Bull team wrote this week.
“PIV is the next frontier of giving true confidence and correlation across all of these test domains.”
But why not just send Remco down the tunnel and perfect his position from that?
A punchy price point is the first factor blocking regular visits. The Catesby Tunnel lists a $20k day rate that’s steep even for $10 billion Red Bull and its $50 million cycling team.
But more to the point, Bigham wants to be able to finesse the set-ups of Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, and Primoz Roglič from his desk.
“Riders are becoming harder and harder to get hold of,” Bigham told Cycling Weekly. “They all want to go to altitude camps and train. They don’t want to come to wind tunnels.
“CFD is incredibly powerful in that respect, in that we can run as many different runs as we want on one rider’s actual body position [on a computer]. But we need to just have absolute trust in that tool first.”
Red Bull wants the Tour de France, and it wants it fast
Red Bull won’t stop until its won its dream Tour de France. (Photo: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s maybe no surprise Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe was frothing with excitement in its press release this week.
The use of PIV should be more than marketing hype.
Correlating the “real”-but-perfectly-controlled world of PIV with the hyper accuracy of CFD buys Red Bull some not-so-free speed to savor at the Tour de France. Bike fits, equipment choices, and material selections should be perfect.
And while Evenepoel hasn’t made it into the tunnel yet – Lipowitz, Bigham, and Jai Hindley have been the main test-subjects so far – Bigham told Velo what’s been done is sufficient to begin his mathematical tinkering.
It’s safe to say this feels as far from cycling as it’s possible to get.
But will all the rocket science actually help Red Bull crush Tadej Pogačar and win its first Tour de France?
The gains to be had won’t be a decisive as the team’s installation of a whole new performance team for the beginning of the “Remco Era.”
In fact, Red Bull’s PIV breakthrough is only another increment on top of the days of finessing Evenepoel already slogged through in the Specialized “win tunnel” in California, and the countless track tests to come.
But it’s an increment nonetheless.
And every one of those counts the micro-margins of the modern WorldTour.
Beyond Red Bull – a sign of things to come?
Red Bull has the multi-sport clout to change cycling – and in this case at the Giro d’Italia, isn’t afraid to show it off. (Photo: Gabriele Seghizzi / Red Bull Content Pool)
The gains from PIV might be minimal in the short term.
But the trials hint at what’s to come from Red Bull, both in terms of investment and sophistication.
The recent arrival of the energy drink monolith to pro cycling brought a wave of chatter about how it would blow up the sport with its bottomless budget, space-age facilities, and multi-sport know-how.
It’s a concept Ineos chief Jim Ratcliffe promised for his Grenadiers and their colleagues in sailing and soccer – something that never seriously materialized.
Bigham hinted in a message to Velo that PIV is only a taste of the cycling-shifting, cross-sport collaborations that are possible in the Red Bull empire.
And what Red Bull does, it will only be a matter of time before UAE Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike, and Lidl-Trek follow suit. Indeed, management at the Catesby Tunnel told Velo that several other bike brands and WorldTour teams have been enquiring about testing.
It seems that underground tunnels, helium bubbles, and laser beams have infiltrated the super team battle for pro cycling supremacy.
Not even a crystal ball will predict what’s next.