Team Kit 2016- Most of the rest...

So in a flurry a few days before Christmas, we suddenly discovered what the peloton by and large will look like come the Tour Down Under. Some of this was unintentional with the UCI revealing the Dimension Data, Cannondale and AG2R La Mondiale jerseys ahead of their official launches, thereby reducing the media impact of the 3 team presentations (edited note- in retrospect maybe only 2 were impinged due to Dimension Data's handling of the situation). However maybe that is more the fault of the teams- surely it would make more sense for the launches to happen earlier in the off-season allowing replica kits to be available for Christmas? My wife really struggled trying to come up with present ideas for me this year and being able to buy Etixx-Quickstep or Dimension Data jerseys would have made life much easier for her (for anyone who is interested she settled for getting me a lovely, non-cycling related jacket!). I'm sure she isn't the only loved one who would have benefited this way and maybe one of the smaller changes that teams need to think about as the struggle to make the sport more sustainable. TV rights etc may be part of the big picture but maybe they should think about developments that they have more control over and build on those (its a wonder no team has thought about concentrating on doing the small stuff well-we could call it something like "gains that are marginal.."!).

I call shenanigans! Dimension Data rolled out in this jersey (below) at some early season Australian rides, giving the impression that the UCI had gotten it wrong with the image above:

Then at the Tour Down Under presentation removed black jackets based on the black design  to reveal:

Chapeau! to Dimension Data on an elaborate double bluff! 

As for the actual designs-obviously the biggest departure is the loss of stripes and MTN from Dimension Data and increased white. AG2R go with well-it-kind-of-is-broken-and-has-been-for-a-long-time-but-we-still-won't-fix-it by changing the brown on the left shoulder with blue. To be fair their jersey has never really been the issue-it is when they combine it with the brown shorts that the cycling world sighs. Would keeping the maillot design and switching to the blue bibs be such a bad idea? Cannondale join other teams in reversing the trend for more black on kit by upping the green, while still keeping the argyle. I feel that the Garmin kit is still one of the classics-so much so I wear the hoodie to this very day (well maybe not this very day today since I now have that lovely coat my wife bought me..) and I find it very hard to decide whether or not I actually like the Cannondale jersey. Would I buy it if it popped up on a Sport Pursuit sale for example?I don't think I would. That isn't to say it is a bad design-it just lacks something I can't put my finger on. (I am also aware that this is in danger of turning into a fashion blog so I will avoid that temptation and cut off the inevitable bores who start quoting The Rules. ) When we are out on our bikes, we wear kit. What is wrong with wearing kit that pays tribute to those who hammer over the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, suffer up the Galibier or bust themselves in small races that don't even have their own Twitter feed, never mind TV coverage, all for our entertainment? I will return to this topic in a future post.

 So after last year's little disagreement with the UCI over their initial design IAM seems a bit less controversial this time around. There was a fear when pics of the 2016 jersey surfaced that more white shorts could be going transparent in the rain (trust me-I have seen this happening to riders ahead of me in the group and there is no greater incentive to take longer turns on the front). However when we eventually got to see full shots it turns out they are sticking with last year's bibs with extra colour blocks. Again a jersey that should make it easier to spot IAM in the bunch.



Plus ça change

 Some teams are sticking with the tried and tested with just slight variations this season. Movistar have more or less stayed the same except for a white patch on the back pockets.

Lotto NL- Jumbo also went for the adding more white to an existing design option:

And as for all-white- FDJ have stuck with the same kit which I feel is a shame since I really loved the blue 2014 one. Let's hope the World Tour soigneurs buy shares in washing powder before the season starts.

Astana, Tinkoff, Trek (now Trek-Segafredo), Lotto-Soudal and Lampre-Merida will also make the game of guessing what year race photos were taken that bit more difficult  by more or less sticking with what they have been using this year. There are a few detailing changes but generally, apart from some different sponsors names, their teams will look very familar in 2016.

We are still waiting for Giant Alpecin, Orica GreenEdge and BMC (though with the latter I am going to stick my neck out and guess it will be a red and black blocky number).

It seems that teams came to the same conclusion many of us did this year- too much black in kits was making identification difficult. However now there is going to be a surfeit of white blocks so those overhead shots could still prove difficult to decipher.

Team Kit 2016- Canyon-SRAM

After the dispiriting news that. despite winning their fourth consecutive TTT World Championships in Richmond, the Velocio-SRAM team would be wound up at the end of the 2015 season seemed to be going against the grain as women's cycling gradually increases its profile and popularity. However a new team, sponsored by Canyon bikes and SRAM emerged with a roster made up of Tiffany Cromwell, Hannah Barnes, Lisa Brennauer,  Elena Cecchini,Trixi Worrack, Mieke Kroger, Alexis Ryan, Barbara Guarischi and Alena Amialiusik.

And with every new team comes new kit, which has been developed and produced by Rapha.

The jersey seems to stand-out without being too in-your-face- a hard thing to achieve but done well in this case by every hedge-fund manager's favourite brand (yes-I know it is obvious but by law every article mentioning Rapha has to have some sort of reference like that). The scheme is colourful yet muted and could, given time, be a classic. Simon Richardson from GCN has already stated he is disappointed Rapha haven't produced a version for men and, while it would take a certain brio to carry it off, would certainly make a change from the wall-to-wall Sky jerseys that seem to make up a large proportion of sportive pelotons these days. A team loaded with talent like Canyon-SRAM deserves a kit to reflect this, and teamed with the paintjob on the bikes seen in the photo above, will surely add some class to the Women's World Tour for 2016.

Lisa Brennauer in the new kit.

Team Kit 2016- Sky

Click here for the Road.cc story and more images


For the past couple of years, Sky fans have been able to get away with wearing the same jersey such has been the similarities in the kit over that time. Rapha have obviously cottoned (or lycra'd? ) on to this so that the 2016 maillot will be the same but different, particularly with those bands. The blue stripe may be a rollback back to the 2011 Adidas kit which had a bigger block of blue across the chest, and the new white stripe (avoiding the obvious "Seven Nation Army" pun) adding a new layer of visibility which will hopefully help fans and commentators pick out particular riders in case the trend of the ever-increasing number of black-dominated kits continues- (though Sherwin and Liggett will probably still call them by the wrong name).

Nothing to do with the new White Stripe...

Now I know no team kit seems to attract such extremes of opinions- from those who categorise all wearers as overweight, hedge fund managers who have no idea with all the gear, whereas many other British fans tend to equate it with supporting "their boys". Personally I feel Sky are like the Man Utd of cycling (nb this is probably the only soccer reference you will find on this blog). I am not of that school of people who end up quoting Rule 17 in an attempt to appear superior to anyone else on two wheels but I must admit seeing people in Sky kit does bring up a well of assumptions which are more to do with my prejudices than the person wearing it. I will do a wee blog post later in relation to non-pros wearing team kit, but don't want to get sidetracked here.

So overall conclusions- it is Sky and it is Rapha so people will come with preordained opinions. Personally I actually like the alternative Sky kit that is almost totally blue and would have loved to see them switch to it but like it or not, they have managed to create an iconic and easily identifiable image in a relatively short period of time. So get used to the black and blue stripes at a sportive near you for quite some time to come.

Team Kit 2016- Etixx-Quickstep

Click for images and more on the Etixx-Quickstep website

Etixx-Quickstep's most high profile recruit for 2016 Marcel Kittel took on the Derek Zoolander role (without going all "Blue Steel") by modelling the kit for next season. Inevitably in a sport where change often brings about cries of anguish, the predictable complaints of "It isn't as good as the last one" soon filled the Facebook posts announcing the new arrivals. Since this has been the general response to new kit since time immemorial, it wasn't a surprise. Personally I think the new jersey looks great especially with that darker blue.  While not totally going against the continunal creep of more and more black jerseys into the peloton, it should still stand out.

Now for the shorts-at the risk of sounding like those old farts who don't realise that The Rules are supposed to be tounge in cheek, and instead have them as tatoos, those shorts really would have worked better staying black. Saying that, I have often made statements like that over the previous years, based solely on the photos that accompany each kit release, only for them to work much better than expected when viewed on the road. Also I am aware I really didn't like MTN-Qhubeka's striped efforts at the start of the 2015 season but they did grow on me-although how much of that had to do with the African team's performances is hard to tell. But as for my definitive views on the new kits that will be unveilled between now and January-ask me after the  Spring Classics...

PS While I am aware that Movistar launched their kit earlier than EQS, it is so similar to last year's it didn't really merit a post.