This is one of a series of upcoming looks at advertising in cycling, mostly informed by looking back through past issues of Procycling magazine.
We all love a good advert, don’t we? Those little snippets of language or imagery created with the sole intent to make us feel part of something, or to instil a desire to acquire, the best ones can become ingrained like a virus into our minds, a new brick in the ever taller world of pop culture, the worst follow their products to the ignominy of never being remembered. Whether by constant repetition during an interminable ad break or though the sheer brilliance of their creativity, they imbed themselves in our consciousness and influence our behaviour on a grand scale. These concentrated stories, condensed into an single page, video or phrase, permeate our lives with the simple intent of turning our attention.
Adverts are of particular importance to the world of cycling. This is a sport whose major events were birthed out of a need to sell newspapers, and whose participants are often described as “moving billboards”, their torsos plastered with the names of companies hoping that those by the side of the road or watching on TV will see have their heads turned enough by the technicolour spectacle to purchase something from them. Cycling is dependent on advertising – teams are funded (mostly) by companies hoping to use the exposure and success of their riders to return more revenue that their original investment. Thus, attaching yourself to a successful team or a particularly popular rider can pay, well, literal dividends in terms of bolstering the output of your sponsorship agreement.
There is an argument that the most recognisable symbol of cycling is not, somehow, a bicycle, but a piece of clothing that when introduced was made of a colour that was traditionally associated with Judas Iscariot and had connotations of illness and duplicity, that has come to be the most coveted jersey a cyclist can wear. The history of the yellow jersey – the malliot jaune – is well documented elsewhere in terms of how it became such an iconic garment (I recommend Peter Cossins’s “The Yellow Jersey” for it’s brilliant mix of historic, symbolic and cultural research), so this is simply a look at how the famous golden fleece has been utilised for the purposes of capitalism – encouraging us to buy more stuff from the pages of ProCycling.
Marco Pantani (1998)
Il Pirata (much better then the Armstrong “Elefantino” moniker” won his grand Tour double on a Bianchi, on a bike so revered that Bianchi produced an identically painted version of their Specialissima model twenty years later to celebrate the feat. At the time, Bianchi were obviously keen to celebrate their win, setting a precedent for future manufacturers to do the same, although it should be noted that the yellow/celeste paint job was just the normal colours, given Mercatone Uno had a bit of a habit of going through various novel colour schemes including a baby pink ensemble.
Bianchi oddly did not seem to feel that consumers might want to know the model Pantani had ridden (it was a Mega Pro XL Reparto Course, for those who care), instead simply stating that they “were back” (this was only Bianchi’s third Tour de France win, with the first two courtesy of Fausto Coppi in 1949 and 1952) and that “the myth continues” (il mito continua.)
The only other ad featuring Marco in yellow was one for Campagnolo, who were celebrating the fact that 1st and 2nd at the Tour had both used their componentry, which was a mere nine speed back then rather than the twelve it is today. It was also “just” Record – Super Record exists now – although current teams are still more likely to use record due to the cost of the Super Variant. They could have put the entire podium on if they wanted – Cofidis’s Bobby Julich also used Campagnolo – but the emphasis of the advert was on “Champions”, and in Ullrich and Pantani, they were showing the last two Tour winners.
The Armstrong Years (1999-2005)
These have already been covered in the previous look at how Lance was featured in ads, but Armstrong was slightly more diverse in what he was used to flog, albeit still all being bike components. Bicycles in Trek, Helmets in Giro, Wheels in Bontrager and componentry in Shimano all featured Armstrong in yellow, although the focus was usually on Lance and his “competition” or high standards rather than necessarily being about his wins.
The focus wasn’t always on Armstrong either – Nike produced an ad with an anonymous cyclist in yellow to push their now defunct Nike Cycling brand, whilst Trek featured Armstrong as part of the Discovery team in it’s minimalist “seven” advert to celebrate the streak of victories, that also featured stage winners George Hincapie and Paolo Savoldelli. Trek even made their logo yellow, which was oddly an idea that didn’t catch on, perhaps because modern logos tended to be wedded to very specific design criteria.
Floyd Landis (2006)
Okay, so we all know that Floyd didn’t actually win the Tour (although his CBD selling business website still maintains that he did, and doesn’t mention anything about his doping, or indeed confession, instead seemingly alluding that he retired because of the pain in his hip). But the brief, four day period where Landis was an all American hero continuing Lance’s work not only saw a slew of magazine covers sent to print extolling his virtues, but also served to allow some of his sponsors to produce ads about “one of the most brilliant performances in the history of the Tour de France.” Eek. Cycleops’s future ads quickly reverted back to not featuring unknown cycling models or simply pics of their trainers rather than relying on star riders, especially given how many had fallen from grace in recent years.
Luckily, 2006 also saw the yellow jersey employed by other advertisers to look forward to more positive developments, such as Eurosport using a yellow jersey, albeit a literal yellow one rather than an official Tour version, to promote watching the current edition whilst harking forth to the upcoming London Grand Depart.
Sunglasses Manufacturer Rudy Project went a step further, using the yellow jersey to exemplify how much better their product was by showing yellow jersey Tom Boonen being defeated by Rabobank and Rudy wearing Oscar Freire. Thus, yellow was also being used as a standard against others could be compared, rather than just being an indicator of quality on its own.
Alberto Contador (2007, 2009-2010)
Alberto Contador’s somewhat surprising emergence as a Tour winner in 2007 meant there wasn’t a huge amount of advertising built around him in the English press, as Discovery Channel was still an American team heavily indebted to Armstrong’s legacy. A relatively unknown young Spaniard wasn’t really going to chime with many, so any ads that were produced were going to have to be connected back to either the Disco boys or the yellow jersey as a mark of quality in itself.
So Contador appeared in an advert for Optygen, a supplement that supposedly increases oxygen uptake, which looks somewhat dodgy in hindsight given the known history of the team and the pill like appearance of the bottle. But even then, the quotes were from the more well known Levi Leipheimer, and Contador was shown flanked by his Discovery teammates just in case the connection wasn’t obvious. Meanwhile, HED, the wheel manufacturer, used an image of Contador in the final TT that highlighted his yellow skinsuit to promote their wheels.
Contador was better known by the next time he was able to take on the Tour however, and was a much more marketable presence. Trek had at least used Contador to promote the new Madone in 2007, albeit without mentioning him by name, but didn’t repeat the trick in 2009…
…instead, it was fuel and components that Contador ended up being attached to, with SRAM making sure they highlighted the fact that the podium had all used their bits and bobs, much as Campagnolo had over a decade before. Science in Sport were also banking on Contador’s “Winner” status, and perhaps sneakily were keen to shoehorn Armstrong into their image, how every subtly, to drive home that their product was “Armstrong beating”…even though Lance would have been using it himself, give he was on Astana as well. Even ProCycling themselves, who had cyclingnews.com as a sister site, got in on the act, using Contador to push people towards their live text coverage in an era where live coverage on terrestrial British TV was fleeting at best, and nowhere near the on demand, all day behemoths we can access today.
Of course, other riders wore yellow and their sponsors were keen to take advantage, particularly after Rinaldo Nocentini’s eight stages in yellow. Spiuk, Ag2R’s helmet supplier, thus decided the “Daggon” helmet was “Tour de France Approved” with an accompanying pic of the Italian in his yellow ensemble.
2010 was, like 2006, an awkward year. Contador “won” the race in controversial circumstances thanks to the aftermath of “Chaingate”, but by September of that year the win was being called into question after his Clenbuterol positive. This meant that adverts had already gone to press hailing Contador as the victor as the doping scandal unfolded.
To some extent, the fact that race had centred on a duel between Contador and Andy Schleck had been advantageous, as both used similar equipment (both were on Specialized bikes and FSA components), and so both featured in some images, although “Easy as One, Two, Three” probably didn’t feel particularly brilliant for the Specialized PR team by September. Selle Italia also suffered, with their version of history now being airbrushed out of existence as Contado remains on just two Tours, rather than three.
Carlos Sastre (2008)
Spaniard Sastre was a popular winner with the viewers, even if he wasn’t necessarily within his own team, if the comments of the Schleck brothers are to be believed. But his triumph was seen as evidence of a cleaning up of the sport after two scandal struck events, to the extent it triggered Lance Armstrong to believe he could come back and win with ease given Sastre was winning the race.
Sastre was again celebrated by his frame, drive chain and saddle manufacturers, with the brands keen to highlight their “winner” or “champion’s saddle” credentials.
Prologo’s 2008 celebration did seem a bit odd, given Rinaldo Nocentini’s GP Lugano win seems a tad out of place with the Tour and Olympic winning exploits of the rest of the featured athletes, but hey ho.
Cadel Evans (2011)
2011 saw not only one heck of an entertaining ding dong battle in the high mountains, but also an immensely popular winner in Cadel Evans, who followed Sastre in being a nearly man who finally broke through the glass ceiling to grab what was likely the last opportunity available to them. Evans wasn’t the most media friendly personality (witness the infamous “You touch my dog, I cut your head off” tirade), but he was still marketable, particularly for his BMC team who had been built almost entirely around his Tour bid.
So it was no surprise that BMC were keen to capitalise with various runs on Evans’s triumph, congratulating him as well as highlighting their teammachine as a vector for success.
The podium also made an appearance, thanks to Speedplay, who were happy to report that all three riders upon it had made use of their lollipop pedalling platform. And Giro also wished to promote their new model of helmet, and had the joy of having two impressive jerseys to do so – adding that of the world champion to the malliot jaune, both of which were borne by Thor Hushovd on his way to two stage wins and eight days in the lead.
Bradley Wiggins (2012)
Despite being repeatedly talked about as a highly marketable brand, and indeed promoting himself as going to “crack America” by winning the Tour of California, Bradley Wiggins only appeared in one ad in the pages of ProCycling in his coveted yellow tunic, and that was for his shoe sponsor, Bont, who had given him a yellow set for the occasion.
Wiggins’s PR companies have since been made bankrupt, he claims he never liked riding at Sky and that he didn’t enjoy winning the Tour, and his attempt to reengineer himself as some sort of anti-establishment rogue who is one with the people is somewhat undermined by his acceptance of and continual utilisation of his Knighthood. So perhaps it’s for the best he didn’t end up using his image to sell any more kit – he’d probably have whined about it anyway.
Chris Froome (2013, 2015-2017)
The only four-time winner of the Tour has accumulated a fair few ads featuring them in yellow, aided by their first win coinciding with the 100th edition of the race, which was a cause for celebration in itself. Oakley, who had attached themselves to the Tour with special models each year. A double spread of Froome winning on the Ventoux, on Bastille Day, in Yellow, was about as “Tour de France” as an ad could really get.
Froome was also feted by Stages, the power meter sponsor, on the occasion of his second win in 2015, with the manufacturer having the good foresight to include future Tour winner Geraint Thomas in the image as well, and helped by Rapha deciding to bling up the kit with some yellow piping to complete the look. Froome is also a big fan of Sidis, the Italian Shoe manufacturer, and was front and centre of their piece celebrating their wearers from 2013, with all three podium spots, all four jerseys, and numerous other achievements under their belts.
2017 also saw an ad that technically doesn’t feature the yellow jersey, but is worth showing all the same – a Castelli add showing Froome in a unique jersey highlighting his Tour-Vuelta double. This was marked not only by the split backdrop, but also by the “data stripes” concept they had invented for the jersey (long stripes = stage race win, short = one day win etc) which had yellow and red bands to celebrate Froome’s achievement.
Castelli had already shown off their winners kit at the end of the Tour, again flanked by Sky riders in a special yellow trimmed kit, and indeed, individualised socks (they got a yellow band for each Tour success they’d been part of, hence why Froome had five, with a gap in 2014, for his four wins and team mate work for Wiggins). Sports Tours International, better known as STI (draw your own conclusions…) also used an image of Froome on the Casse Desserte of the Izoard to promote their trips, and Sidi even rolled out a special edition shoe – complete with yellow shoe bag! – for those who desired the true Froome experience in 2013.
Vincenzo Nibali (2014)
The first Italian to win the Tour since Pantani, and completing the “Grand Tour Triple” in doing so, Vincenzo Nibali oddly only made one advert in ProCycling, at least sharing Campagnolo as his groupset of choice with Il Pirata. Oddly, it seemed to put Nairo Quintana’s Giro win on a similar level, despite it’s semi-controversial nature (attacking a red flagged descent) and Nibali’s utter dominance of the event.
Oakely, meanwhile, were going all retro with their new Tour centred range of shades and so evoked Greg Lemond to push their new Eyeshad update, which still looked front heavy and fragile, and seems to have faded away a little. Still, a cool advert.
Egan Bernal (2019)
Having ignored Geraint Thomas’s win in 2018 to focus on Sky’s Ocean Rescue concept, Castelli returned to the yellow jersey look in 2019, again managing to feature Thomas celebrating with then second youngest winner ever Egan Bernal. They had finished 1st and 2nd, so they had a pretty good excuse. You do wonder if Castelli will try to get the rights to make the yellow jersey back as they had in the nineties, so that they can have the whole package.
Tadej Pogacar (2020)
Finally, most recently, Tadej Pogacar’s single day in yellow was utilised by Stages, which was odd given his famous comeback triumph on La Planche de Belle Filles was achieved without a power meter on his bike, provoking many armchair pundits to delcare all races should be raced without powermeters and so on. Still, I supose the advert was more for the bike computer Stages made rather than the power meter, so they can get away with it I suppose.
Hang on, didn’t Oscar Pereiro (2006), Andy Schleck (2010) and Geraint Thomas (2018) win the Tour as well?!
Well, yes, but Pereiro and Schleck had to wait rather a while to be given their victories, and by that time it was a bit past the sell by date for exploiting the win. Thomas though, should be angry – he seems to be the only one who didn’t appear in some advert, although it should be noted this is just, for the moment, looking at ProCycling, rather than other publications, and I’m sure I recall an SIS ad with him in just as I remember Nibali in a Specialized one in yellow. Even more annoyingly for G, someone who wore yellow in 2018 did get into an ad – Fernando Gaviria was in to flog Ekoi eyewear after his opening day triumph.
Sicycle 
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