Best and Worst National Champs jerseys

[Libertine Seguros]

So, Küng would still be allowed to have a championship skinsuit?

Sure, if you're a time trial champion, you get a championship skinsuit, because skinsuits are for time trials and track cycling.

 

[tobydawq]

Sure, if you're a time trial champion, you get a championship skinsuit, because skinsuits are for time trials and track cycling.

Where is that rule?

Aerodynamics also apply in road races.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sure, but the traditional jersey / bibs combo was designed around the requirements of road racing and still serves that function well. Eating and drinking and so forth are still a requirement. Aerodynamics apply in road races, but the TT helmets, aero bars and disc wheels don't get trotted out for a 180km road stage (and several elements of those have been legislated against), and I don't feel that skinsuits should either. The aero lids fad seems to have died down a lot, that might have been aesthetic or the benefit may have been too small, I don't know. The skinsuits definitely fail from an aesthetic point of view, especially the ones that result in deformed tricolour jerseys.

If you want to wear a skinsuit for a crit type event like the Cancer Council Classic where endurance isn't as much of a factor that's one thing, but I don't see it as having a place in classics or full road stages.

 

[tobydawq]

Sure, but the traditional jersey / bibs combo was designed around the requirements of road racing and still serves that function well. Eating and drinking and so forth are still a requirement. Aerodynamics apply in road races, but the TT helmets, aero bars and disc wheels don't get trotted out for a 180km road stage (and several elements of those have been legislated against), and I don't feel that skinsuits should either. The aero lids fad seems to have died down a lot, that might have been aesthetic or the benefit may have been too small, I don't know. The skinsuits definitely fail from an aesthetic point of view, especially the ones that result in deformed tricolour jerseys.

If you want to wear a skinsuit for a crit type event like the Cancer Council Classic where endurance isn't as much of a factor that's one thing, but I don't see it as having a place in classics or full road stages.

But Démare is a sprinter and if there is one place where they come in handy it should be in sprints where aerodynamics have even greater importance than in time trials. I'm not advocating that riders should begin riding nice mountains like Fedaia or La Planche des Belles Filles in skinsuits but not going for that advantage in a sprint would be daft.

Then again, I don't actually know if most sprinters use them as it's really not that noticeable for me.

But of course with them having no pockets they're not exactly practical.

 

[RedheadDane]

But of course with them having no pockets they're not exactly practical.

They do have the skinsuits-with-pockets option. And I suppose a sprinter could appoint a domestique as "designated food carrier".

 

[tobydawq]

They do have the skinsuits-with-pockets option. And I suppose a sprinter could appoint a domestique as "designated food carrier".

Maybe hire János Pelikán. He sounds like one who can carry all the other riders' necessities in his mouth while still wearing a skinsuit. The perfect domestique.

 

[RedheadDane]

Not bad, Movistar. Not bad.

I'll let someone else decide whether this is an acceptable Puerto Rico jersey.

And for good measure; here's Van Vleuten. However, I think this is a jersey they wouldn't have been allowed to mess up.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Looks like they forgot to put the triangle of the flag on, realised, and just slapped it on somewhere near the left, at the last minute. Danish one is good and so is the Euros jersey. Just a shame that trying to make it look like one continuous band around the chest unfortunately makes the Puerto Rican jersey look slapdash.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

By Movistar standards, the Puerto Rican one is actually pretty good and it's actually better than the one he had last year, but that's damning with faint praise. The Danish one, on the other hand, is actually good and this must count as a minor miracle as no matter how hard the Danish champions' jersey is to screw up, if there was one team that was going to find a way then my money would have been on Movistar.

Although remembering the travesties committed to the Norwegian jersey by Sky (the 2012 version) and Dimension Data, perhaps I judge Movistar too harshly.

 

[Nirvana]

To fit with the Movistar logo azure/celeste they took the old flag of Puerto Rico instead of the one in use now.

Maybe i'm pedantic but for me that's a big difference.

 

[Breezy1985]

To fit with the Movistar logo azure/celeste they took the old flag of Puerto Rico instead of the one in use now.

Maybe i'm pedantic but for me that's a big difference.

According to Wikipedia both are acceptable and the sky blue is used by the government at times