Bahrain-Victorious unveil special edition jersey for Vuelta a España

Bahrain-Victorious will wear a special edition jersey for the upcoming Vuelta a España so as not to clash with the Spanish Grand Tour red leader's jersey as well as raise awareness around obesity and diabetes.

Bahrain is said to be one of the countries most affected by diabetes, where the incidence of diabetes is 14.7 per cent of the adult population, expected to rise to a quarter in the Gulf by 2030.

The design is said to be a nod to previous iterations of the team's strip, when they were called Bahrain-Merida and Bahrain-McLaren, and is emblazoned with various statistics and quotes about diabetes: “30 minutes of exercise a day reduces your risk of diabetes by 25%”, “Riding Away From Obesity and Diabetes” and “Every Pedal Stroke is a Victory.”

While the professionals take on three weeks of racing across Spain, the team is also inviting fans and members of the public to do 30 minutes of exercise every day and log it on the team's Strava club through which they can win prizes for participating.

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Bahrain-Victorious line up for the Vuelta with Mikel Landa as leader accompanied by a strong supporting cast.

Jack Haig returns to Grand Tour racing after crashing out of the Tour de France, while Damiano Caruso will be dreaming of going as well as he did in the Giro d'Italia in May, where he finished second overall. Mark Padun, Gino Mäder, Wout Poels, Jan Tratnik and Yukiya Arashiro complete the strong eight-man squad.

At the recent Tour de France Bahrain-Victorious also wore a special jersey, albeit just for the team presentation, a blue and white number also raising awareness around obesity and diabetes.

After the team presentation, the jerseys were destroyed and one was 'minted' as an NFT (non-fungible token). This time, however, a tangible version of the Vuelta jersey is available for fans to purchase.