The BLACKOUT Collection
The story is not necessarily new, but worth retelling, as it is an origin story of sorts. But the rising of this tale begins not from ashes but from driving snow and freezing conditions; conditions epic enough that they caused the shortening of the 104th edition of Milan-San Remo in 2013. Conditions nasty enough where riders were bussed around the Passo del Turchino and Le Manie because the roads were unrideable with snow and ice.
But lest we get ahead of ourselves, we must go back even further to August of 2009, where a handful of riders from the Cervélo TestTeam met after the Brexia Tour with the sole purpose of trying to figure out a better solution to the rain jackets available.
You’ve probably all seen photos, and if you were a cyclist at the time most likely still cringe at the thought of the ill-fitting, plastic, and completely waterproof jackets worn at the time. The biggest issue was that they were designed to be waterproof, so while they did a fantastic job of keeping water out, they were abysmal when it came to breathability.
Gabriel Rasch, one of the Cervélo riders present at the meeting, pulled out his Castelli Pocket Liner rain jacket, to which he had cut off the sleeves and hand-sewn jersey arms to give it an aerodynamic fit, and an idea was born: breathability and aerodynamics became the solution to a previously unanswered question.
Over the next several months, and with this in mind, Castelli designed a lightweight, short sleeve, windproof and water-resistant garment with stretch and breathability. Debuting in the spring of 2010 at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, the Gabba was born (Gabriel’s nickname amongst the peloton).
The long-sleeve Gabba debuted the following spring, and over the next 2 years, the pro peloton would become chock full of Gabbas, most of which were worn by teams not sponsored by Castelli, and most of which had the Castelli logos blackened out with Sharpies.
Which brings us back to the beginning of the story: the 2013 Milan-San Remo. Leading into the race, riders had faced a spring of continuously abysmal weather. By the start in Milan, the Gabba had officially made a name for itself in the pro peloton, as dozens of riders wore ‘blacked out’ Gabbas. The winner of the race, Gerald Ciolek, wore a Gabba until the final kilometers, shedding it in time for the final lead into San Remo.
To pay homage to the original Gabba on its 10-year anniversary, and its stealthy rise to prominence within the pro peloton, we’ve developed a limited edition BLACKOUT Collection, including The Perfetto RoS Long Sleeve, the Gabba RoS, the Raddoppia 2 Jacket, the Trasparente V Jersey, and the Reflex Shoe cover. All are modern-day versions built with the latest fabric technologies, but one thing remains in common with the first ‘undercover’ Gabbas: the color. Although this time, we blacked out the logos for you, so you can leave your sharpies at home.
Find out more about the BLACKOUT collection here.
