100 Days to Paris – How Cycling’s Olympic Champions showed off their success

With 100 days to go until the Paris Olympics begins, possibly in the Seine, possibly not, here's some nostalgia as we look back at the male winners of the professional era of the Olympic Games Road and Time Trial races, and how they celebrated their triumph with liberal application of the colour gold. The Olympics...

A Brief History of Tour de France change kits

Thursday the 24th of June saw what is surely an unprecedented feat: during the Tour de France team presentation, no fewer than 8 teams, a stonking 35% of the total riding, unveiled what the graphic designers who had been wiling away during lockdown had come up with - new kits. For once, this wasn't simply...

Cycling Adverts – Cervélo

"We apologise in advance if our ads look like they're written by engineers. We figure you would rather read and add designed by an Engineer than ride a bike designed by a marketing department."

The Fashion Rules for Cycling Jerseys

In a social media savvy world, cycling teams have become increasingly slick in maximising the publicity out of what they have now decided must be designated "#NewKitDay."  Sadly, as chronicled many times on this blog, the standard of designs has slipped in recent years, with corporate-friendly, non-quirky designs being the norm as one block of...

What Gears in what Years? Who rode what in the 21st Century

Cyclists are meant to make a choice from birth - Shimano or Campagnolo. Choose the Japanese manufacturer, and you are saying you are at the forefront of technical innovation, future looking, and expect seamless integration and reliability, as well as enjoying the ability to easily mend and repair any problems. Choose the Italian stalwart, and...

What do cycling sponsors actually do?

Quick Step. CSC. Fassa Bortolo. Phonaesthetic names that roll off the tongue well, but do you know what they actually do? Cycling teams are after all literal rolling billboards, advertising the wares of their benefactors to across the world from the deserts of Dubai to the industrial fields of Flanders. With some rare exceptions, teams...

The Top 25 Most Stage Winning Bicycle Manufacturers of the last 25 years

Got your head around that title? I havent quite, so let's go over what this is about. As in tune with my work-in-progress Grand Tour Stages project, one of its many, many aims is to try and count what bicycles stage winners in Grand Tours used, and thus which has the most wins in history...

Which team has performed best at Grand Tours from 2004-2014?

Let's be honest. It's hard enough remembering who won some Grand Tours in the past, let alone the stage winners. As well as that, we are more likely to remember the individual rider then their team - Alberto Contador has won Grand Tours on three different teams, whilst arguing over whether Andy Schleck and Oscar...

2014 Team Previews: Garmin Sharp

Who are the sponsor? Garmin make GPS navigation equipment, Sharp make electrical items such as televisions. Nationality: American 2013 Ranking: 8th Past Stars: Bradley Wiggins, Heinrich Haussler, Thor Hushovd, Sep Vanmarkce, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Svein Tuft, Magnus Backstedt. Selected Team Palmares: 1st, 2012 Giro d’Italia (Ryder Hesjedal) Stages, Tour de France (2011×2, Tyler Farrar and TTT, 2012, David...

The Recent History of Bike Brands as Team Sponsors

In 2013, there will be three WorldTour teams with their bike brand as a title sponsor of the team: BMC, Cannondale and Lampre-Merida. Last year, Colnago sponsored a pro-conti team and Giant briefly flirted with the idea of become the title sponsor of what is now the Blanco team, whilst Radioshack techically had Trek in...