After they turned into Lotto FixAll for the Giro d’Italia, Lotto Soudal will turn up at the 2018 Tour de France with another new name, this time racing under the title of New Lotto Soudal.
The new name is the result of a rebranding of the Belgian national lottery for its 40th anniversary, with the lottery now being called Nieuwe Lotto (you can work that translation out for yourself).
Of course that also means that the team will be riding a different kit for the Tour, although the redesign hasn’t had to be quite as dramatic as the dark green and white design that we saw for their Lotto FixAll kit at the Giro.
Basically the new kit features a whole lot more red than the team’s standard jersey, with the normal white panel on the front replaced with pretty much block red, and the addition of a little “New” above the Lotto symbol. Unfortunately the only photo we’ve got of the new kit right now is this promotional shot for the lottery, which doesn’t really show it off in its best light.
Of course riders on the Belgian team are well used to riding under different team names, with the Lotto FixAll title having been used at the latest Giro d’Italia and the 2016 and 2017 editions of Paris-Nice to promote a type of sealant by adhesive company Soudal. (Who said cycling wasn’t glamourous?).
Lotto Soudal, sorry New Lotto Soudal, won’t be the only team riding in a changed jersey for the Tour, with Team Sky wearing a special white-and-black jersey with a black panel on the front and a massive killer whale on the back in support of the Sky Ocean Rescue environmental initiative.
Sky have also previously ridden in alternative black-and-green jerseys for the whole of of the 2011 Tour de France, while also swapping to special edition black-and-red and black-and-yellow jerseys for the final stages of the Vuelta and the Tour to celebrate overall victories.
