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Hits, misses and meh: We rate the peloton’s new Tour de France threads

Hits, misses and meh: We rate the peloton's new Tour de France threads

Since the Tour de France always draws the largest number of viewers worldwide of any bike race, it’s a time-honored (but seemingly accelerating) tradition for teams to swap out their standard kit for something a little more snazzy.

Some teams take it as an opportunity to stray away from the bland kit they wear all year and try something a bit more wild (take Jumbo-Visma). A few years ago, almost every team went for a ‘more white’ aesthetic, but since EF Education-EasyPost introduced their first collaboration with Palace for the Giro d’Italia in 2020, other teams were inspired to think outside the box with their special edition Tour de France looks.

Some of the new threads are an improvement on the standard year-round lycra, some maybe should have stayed on the drawing board. Here’s a list of all the teams that shook things up for their ride around France.

The hits: Our favorite TDF kits

Israel-Premier Tech

Normally Israel-Premier Tech wears a blue and white number that is about as exciting as Wonder Bread. For the Tour de France, they added some splashes of different blues, some multi-colored geometric patterns, and some flowers. It is a huge improvement on their usual bland situation.

The change of look is part of a wider goal to raise awareness and funds for a 16-acre bike center to be built in Rwanda. The fundraising campaign will help construct the ‘Field of Dreams’ bike center, complete with a pump track and race track, which will be accessible to 120,000 students in the Bugesera district.

Bonus points for the custom-painted limited edition Factor bikes that are simply gorgeous.

Bora-Hansgrohe

The German team has pretty much just changed their color scheme to white and turquoise, but with all the new colors in the peloton the white will stand out. Nothing radical, but it works. It also says BRO on the front, perhaps a nod to their Band of Brothers tagline? Or maybe they’re all going into finance together, bro.

Trek-Segafredo

Trek-Segafredo, usually sporting a very simple white and red with navy bibs, are going full navy for the four weeks of the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. The two teams normally wear different colors but have decided to become one team for the month of July.

The kit is meant to be a mashup of the men’s red stripe and the women’s baby blue stripe set on a navy background. And clearly, Mads Pedersen gives the new look a big thumbs up.

Like Bora-Hansgrohe it’s nothing revolutionary and it narrowly avoided the miss category, but it will be cool to see both teams wearing the same outfits in honor of the renewed women’s event that will kick off when the men conclude their racing in Paris.

Misses:

Lotto Soudal

Lotto Soudal’s new co-title sponsor Dstny wanted to test the waters, but not make a splash, on the Belgian team’s Tour de France kit. The tech company will be coming on full-time in 2023. Like water thrown in a grease fire, the light bluey/turquoise color and red do not go.

In general, it looks like a rush job.

Alpecin-Deceuninck

Not only did Alpecin pick up Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s old sponsor Deceuninck, but they also copied their kit from 2021. The new navy to black fade is almost identical to their rival’s kit from last season. Unfortunately, the new look will stick around for the remainder of the 2022 season. Mathieu van der Poel does not approve. This one is particularly sad given the team’s incredible Poulidor homage kits last year.

Petition to make the Giro d’Italia kit permanent?

Undecided:

EF Education-EasyPost / EF Education-Tibco-SVB

Just like Trek-Segafredo, EF Education-EasyPost will match their women’s counterparts EF Education-Tibco-SVB for the four weeks of Tour mania. Unlike the other American outfit, the two teams are actually separate organizations, just with a lot/all of the same sponsors and some of the same staff. Usually, their kits are slightly different, both pink and blueish (it remains impossible to tell if the men’s bibs are blue or green – no I am not color blind).

The kit definitely stands out, although they always do. For their second collab with Palace, the team highlighted the returning Tour de France Femmes, plus there are dragons (?) or maybe gremlins (?). Read more about it here.

It is undecided whether the team gets bonus points or a deduction for the crocs. [Bonus, no question – ed]

But the bike is a hit. Very old-school.

Jumbo-Visma

Who knows what to make of Jumbo-Visma’s Tour de France look. The team was so excited that they revealed the design months before anyone needed to see it. Inspired by Van Gogh, Vermeer, and Rembrandt, the Dutch team is decked out in a mishmash of colors that look like…vomit?

This one needs to be seen in action to truly make a decision.

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