Pricey readers, as I’m positive you already know, ‘tis the season.
No, not that season – that is not for one more week or so. I’m speaking about new package 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 positive. 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 artistic. Let me inform you about my favourites up to now.
First there was Lidl-Trek. In homage to their grocery store sponsor, they launched their package 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 following one which stood out to me. I’ve at all times been a fan of their crimson, white and blue get-up – they received the package rating in our journal final yr – and this time around the crew has taken the vibe to a brand new degree.
Of their launch, the French crew 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, not less than insofar as their riders wore bib shorts, too. The crew’s promo pictures had a dramatic really feel to them, with 4 riders posing moodily round Primož Roglič, set to a deep crimson background. It’s the form of picture you’d count on to see on the X-Issue, introducing a boyband who have been put collectively after the auditions and at the moment are thriving within the dwell exhibits.
The most recent race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and knowledgeable shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
Lastly, the final package announcement I wish to draw to your consideration is that of UAE Staff Emirates. We’ll ignore the dizzying blur impact that has been added to the pictures, and deal with one key factor: Tadej Pogačar is sporting white bib shorts.
Final week, I questioned the world champion’s music style in his Spotify Wrapped, nevertheless it appears the 2 of us have now discovered frequent floor. I’ve at all times stated that, if/after I grow to be the perfect bike owner on the planet, I, too, will put on white bib shorts. Fingers crossed mine received’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 Below’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’ll be able to 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. If you happen to, too, have Anna in your identify, you may additionally be destined to grow to be a person pursuit world champion
5. After listening to Tadej Pogačar is focusing on the Tour of Flanders subsequent yr, Mathieu van der Poel is trying 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 beginning, you say? Nicely, if it is not on Strava, it did not occur
8. I will take a cappuccino and a Thibau Nys to go, please
9. Observe biking could be a actual circus generally
10. Let this be a reminder to all of you to vary your bar tape usually
11. And eventually, I will go away you with the dance strikes of Oppy, an intimidatingly jacked kangaroo, to take you into the weekend
