Yorkshire cycling kit makers Shutt Velo Rapide has launched some new summer tees and one design in particular caught the eye.

Apart from the fetching shade of pink which is bound to look good with a cyclist’s tan, ‘Les Forçats de la Route’ will appeal to any historian of the Tour de France, who, if they’re also in the middle of a busy season of racing will indeed feel like a ‘convict of the road’.

The expression was the headline for an article by journalist Albert Londres for Le Petit Parisien magazine in 1924. The writer, a non-cycling specialist more used to the sophisticated goings-on in the capital, was shocked at the appalling treatment of the Tour de France racers, legendary Henri Pélissier in particular, by promoter Henri Desgrange.

For £19.99 an ideal gift, we’d say, for someone who’s sporting that haggard and hang-dog look characteristic of a cyclist in need of a good vacance. Anyone you know?