Reduced to basics, pro cyclists are pedaling billboards. The companies riders promote a range from the logical (bicycle manufacturers) to the unique (residential stoves), and watching the peloton at high speeds looks like the view through a kaleidoscope.
Riders’ jerseys have changed just like the rest of cycling technology, from woolen to micro fiber and from featuring basic lettering to elaborate color schemes that sometimes match and sometimes don’t.
With the 2011 season on the horizon, here are 10 team jerseys through the years, subjectively selected as the best of the bunch:
10. ONCE/Eroski: There’s a lot to be said for standing out in the peloton. No team was more conspicuous than the riders in the bright yellow jersey with black/white boxed letters. ONCE, the Spanish lottery for the blind, began its sponsorship in 1989 and had three co-sponsors through its tenure, including Eroski (2001-2003), the supermarket chain.
The squad had many successful riders. But it was Joseba Beloki, challenger to Lance Armstrong in the 2002 and 2003 editions of the Tour de France, who garnered the most attention for his team’s sponsors.
9. Saeco: Bright red stands out. Mario Cipollini stood out. It was a perfect marriage. The mix was arguably the most recognized squad in the peloton from 1996 through 2004. During the 1999 Tour de France, the team sponsored by the Italian coffee machine maker powered Cipollini to four straight stage wins as the cycling’s first “sprint train.”
Saeco won the Giro d’Italia in 1997 with Ivan Gotti, in 2003 with Gilberto Simoni, and in 2004 with Damiano Cunego. Saeco’s Stefano Zanini won the US Pro Championship in Philadelphia in 2003.
8. Acqua-Sapone: More than a few puns could be made about a squad sponsored by an Italian company whose name translates to “water and soap.” But no one laughed when its title sponsorship began in 2002 and Mario Cipollini won Milan–San Remo and Gent–Wevelgem. The squad also comprised much of the national Italian team that helped Cipollini win the world road title the same year.
Cipollini was never shy about his wont for wild uniforms that often depicted animal stripes or human body parts. Acqua-Sapone was no exception. The zebra stripes were unique and Cipollini was happy — at least for a little while.
7. Bianchi: Where do you start with a sponsor who’s been around off and on since the earliest stages of pro cycling in 1899? The Italian bicycle manufacturer was also a main sponsor in several other tenures: 1905-1966, 1973-1984, 1993 and 2003.
Fausto Coppi joined the Bianchi team in 1945 and stayed for more than a decade. Bianchi returned as the main sponsor for the Bianchi-Campagnolo team that included 1972 and 1973 world champions Marino Basso and Felice Gimondi. And more recently, Jan Ullrich challenged Lance Armstrong in the 2003 Tour de France while riding for Bianchi.
Although its jersey has changed, it’s also stayed the same. It’s simple, stylish and the Bianchi green (celeste) perfectly matches the manufacturer’s bikes. Enough said.
6. 7-Eleven: Founded in 1981 as an amateur squad by Jim Ochowicz, the squad turned pro in 1985 and competed in the Tour de France in 1986 as the first American team in cycling’s pinnacle event. Davis Phinney won a stage wearing the bold green, read, white and black jersey. The convenience store-sponsored team lasted through 1990 and featured many of the most famous U.S. riders of the era — Eric Heiden to Ron Kiefel to Andy Hampsten. The team was selected as a group as inductees to the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.
5. Credit Agricole: Never has the combination of green, light blue, red, white and dash of black looked so classy. The flare of the light-blue “C” crossing the “A” is among the all-time great lettered logos. Stuart O’Grady, Jens Voigt, and two young Americans, Bobby Julich and Jonathan Vaughters, were among dozens of accomplished riders who rode for the squad sponsored by the French bank from 1997 to 2008. Julich and Vaughters were on the winning 2001 Tour de France team time trial squad for Credit Agricole. They looked sharp.
4. Team Z: Like other great fleeting squads, Z (pronounced ZED) lasted only three seasons (1990-92). A French team sponsored by Z Vetements Enfants, a children’s clothing company, its jersey was playful and looked like a cartoon. The two shades of blue ideally complemented yellow “puffs” scattered about the jersey featuring the letter “Z.” Greg LeMond won his third and last Tour de France riding for Z in 1990.
3. Brooklyn Chewing Gum: John Wilcockson, the esteemed Colorado-based cycling journalist, suggested this jersey from the 1970s team. It’s a beauty. The Italian candy company Perfetti created Brooklyn Gum after World War II, and the squad’s luminaries included brothers Roger and Eric Vlaeminck.
Roger was the more accomplished on the road, wearing the red, white and blue jersey in several of his Paris-Roubaix victories. Part homage to track riders of yesteryear, part reminiscent of the Harlem Globetrotters’ attire, part Captain America uniform, the jersey is a collectors’ favorite.
2. Molteni: It began 1958, lasted through 1976 and had several successful riders, including a Belgian guy named Eddy Merckx. He began wearing the understated jersey in 1971. The burnt orange, dark blue and world champion stripes in the collar and cuffs Merckx wore in 1972 after winning the world title a year earlier was a stoic, classy advertisement for the residential stove manufacturer.
1. La Vie Claire: The geometric patterns for the famed squad (Greg LeMond, Bernard Hinault, Andy Hampsten, Steve Bauer, among others) were created by a designer from Benetton to promote the French chain of health food stores.
The creation was forged from the series of paintings by the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian called Composition. But it was the second design offered; the first creation was reminiscent of New Zealand rugby uniforms and was scrapped.
In his biography, Hinault said of the team (1984-1986) attire: ” . . . It was something of a revolution, which was just what we wanted. It was a symbol of our intention to stand out from the other teams and to brighten up the peloton . . .”
The bright colors. The different sized rectangles. It was unlike any jersey before it or since. It was perfect. Geez, who knew Bernie was so hip?
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