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Alpecin-Fenix pays tribute to Raymond Poulidor with new kit for Tour team presentation

Alpecin-Fenix pays tribute to Raymond Poulidor with new kit for Tour team presentation

The Alpecin-Fenix team unveiled a new look on Thursday for the Tour de France team presentation.

Two days before the Grand Départ in Brest, the squad unveiled a purple and yellow kit that pays tribute to Raymond Poulidor. The team’s bikes received an updated paint scheme to match the new look as well, although both the riders and the bikes will return to being adorned in the team’s traditional blue kit for the race itself.

Poulidor, who finished on the Tour de France podium eight times and took victories at Vuelta a España, Milan-San Remo, and a host of other big races during his illustrious career, was the grandfather of Alpecin-Fenix star Mathieu van der Poel. The French cycling legend died in 2019 at the age of 83.

The new Alpecin-Fenix kit echoes the Mercier-BP-Hutchinson kit worn by Poulidor at the height of his career in a tribute the team has dubbed “Merci Poupou.”

On Sunday, his grandson and the rest of the Alpecin-Fenix squad will roll out for the Belgian ProTeam’s Tour de France debut, 45 years after Poulidor made his final Tour start.

The limited edition kit is available for purchase online, and according to the Alpecin-Fenix team website, proceeds from the sales will benefit “an initiative that promotes young cyclists.”

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