The Tour Down Under, the first World Tour of the season, is regularly a hotbed of new technology.

Sometimes it simply comes in the form of flashy new color schemes, like the Allez Sprint Tour Down Under collection or Vivani's European Champion-themed De Rosa. Other times, more advanced technology releases from the cycling world are premiered, like last year when Campagnolo's 12-speed groupset was first unveiled.

Footwear seems to be the theme this year, with Rapha, Bontrager, and Mavic all unveiling new footwear, and our eagle-eyed tech team got some sneaky photos.

Below, we'll show you what's new for 2020, as well as a few extras that caught our eye because we're cyclists and new shoes are our Achilles' heel.

EF Education First athletes wearing Rapha's new shoes in blue, black, and purple.

Up close, they appear to have a slender form, woven fabric construction, plastic external heel cup, and double Boa retention system.

After five days of use, Nielson Powles has positive feedback.

"They work really well. They came from Shimano, but they are comfortable and I really like the Rapha shoes. They're pretty narrow, but my feet are narrow too, so I wear those all the time."

As we recently reported, Romain Bardet, Mavic, and Veloxx raised money for the relief of the Australian bushfires.

The partnership resulted in Romain Bardet using a yet-to-be-announced pair of Mavic shoes.

According to Cycling News, the official name of the updated shoes will be the Comet Ultimate II.

The exoskeleton is nearly identical, with the main difference being a larger hole in the instep. The inner booties appear to have been redesigned and, according to Bardet, are more breathable.

Mads Pedersen politely informed me that most of us in the cycling community mispronounce his first name.

The new shoes are an updated version of the Bontrager Ballista road shoes. Pedersen's shoes have the same design as the recently released Ballista Knit, but without the knit construction.

Of course, as a world champion, Pedersen's shoes are custom designed. They have rainbow stripes on the instep and outstep and a rainbow boa (or is it rainbow boa?).

Trek Segafredo's Richie Porte also had his cycling shoes modified. The Bontrager XXX road shoes we reviewed recently usually have a matte finish. Porte's, however, appear to have more ventilation holes and a shiny dimple coating that looks like a golf ball.

Porte explains that the shoe is designed to provide greater breathability, and if we may speculate, the slippery dimpled surface may provide an aerodynamic advantage.

We do not know if these shoes will be sold to the public or if they are a Porte-only prototype. Either way, we look forward to finding out.