Pricey readers, as I’m certain you already know, ‘tis the season.
No, not that season – that is not for one more week or so. I’m speaking about new equipment season, the time of yr when all the professional groups launch their up to date threads forward of subsequent yr’s marketing campaign.
You’ll have seen the photographs, I’m certain. Gone are the times when a rider would pose as if taking a company headshot – arms folded, physique at an angle, eyes staring down the digicam. Now, groups are getting inventive. Let me inform you about my favourites to date.
First there was Lidl-Trek. In homage to their grocery store sponsor, they launched their equipment final week with a photograph of sprinter Clara Copponi pouting within the fruit and veg aisle, a yellow procuring bag draped over her shoulder.
FDJ-Suez was the subsequent one which stood out to me. I’ve at all times been a fan of their crimson, white and blue get-up – they gained the equipment rating in our journal final yr – and this time around the group has taken the vibe to a brand new degree.
Of their launch, the French group shared a photograph of Évita Muzic, dressed within the new jersey, which she had paired in an outfit with blue denims and a white jacket, worn off-the-shoulder. La classe.
Bora-Hansgrohe saved it extra conventional, a minimum of insofar as their riders wore bib shorts, too. The group’s promo photographs had a dramatic really feel to them, with 4 riders posing moodily round Primož Roglič, set to a deep crimson background. It’s the type of picture you’d anticipate to see on the X-Issue, introducing a boyband who had been put collectively after the auditions and at the moment are thriving within the dwell reveals.
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Lastly, the final equipment announcement I wish to draw to your consideration is that of UAE Workforce Emirates. We’ll ignore the dizzying blur impact that has been added to the photographs, and concentrate on one key factor: Tadej Pogačar is carrying white bib shorts.
Final week, I questioned the world champion’s music style in his Spotify Wrapped, but it surely appears the 2 of us have now discovered widespread floor. I’ve at all times stated that, if/after I develop into one of the best bicycle owner on the earth, I, too, will put on white bib shorts. Fingers crossed mine gained’t seem to have a sewn-in nappy like poor Tadej’s.
Elsewhere on social media this week, Mathieu van der Poel scores a three-pointer, Thomas De Gendt fears crashing indoors, and we meet the Tour Down Beneath’s new mascot.
1. Introducing the brand new underwear sew, assured to avoid wasting you 10 watts at 45km/h
🌈 What occurred in 2024 was unimaginable. Not content material with the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, @TamauPogi claimed the rainbow jersey for the primary time.For 2025, Tadej will hit the roads with a brand new white hybrid skinsuit, handmade in PISSEI’s Customized Lab. #WeAreUAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/jfLRlMTwyaDecember 12, 2024
2. Who wants white bib shorts when you possibly can put on blue denims?
Altering norms, breaking codes. #Gobik #TomorrowIsDecidedToday pic.twitter.com/BT2UnWatmSDecember 12, 2024
3. Contemporary from judges’ homes, it is Bora-Hansgrohe!
4. In case you, too, have Anna in your title, you may additionally be destined to develop into a person pursuit world champion
5. After listening to Tadej Pogačar is concentrating on the Tour of Flanders subsequent yr, Mathieu van der Poel is wanting into new sports activities
6. You by no means lose it, Thomas
I’m on my rollers coaching indoor. I watch a pov video from contained in the unboundpeloton. I’m fixated on the display screen. They crash in entrance of me. I brake. Reflexes are nonetheless there.December 12, 2024
7. You gave start, you say? Nicely, if it isn’t on Strava, it did not occur
8. I am going to take a cappuccino and a Thibau Nys to go, please
9. Observe biking generally is a actual circus typically
10. Let this be a reminder to all of you to vary your bar tape repeatedly
11. And at last, I am going to go away you with the dance strikes of Oppy, an intimidatingly jacked kangaroo, to take you into the weekend