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.
