Sky and Katusha show off new team kit ahead of 2017 Tour de France

Change of jersey design for Team Sky and Katusha-Alpecin ahead of the 2017 Tour de France
Nigel Wynn

Team Sky and Katusha-Alpecin have been showing off their new jerseys ahead of the 2017 Tour de France.

British WorldTour outfit Team Sky have swapped their traditional black kit for white, allowing the riders to keep cooler on hot, sunny days during the Tour, which starts this Saturday in Düsseldorf, Germany. Rider surnames are displayed clearly on the back of the jersey, reflecting a UCI rule change for 2017 which allowed teams to do so.

>>> Tour de France 2017: Latest news, race info and more

Sky posted photos of the new white kit on Twitter on Thursday morning, as Luke Rowe and Michal Kwiatkowski were among the riders heading out for a training ride for the first time in the new strip.

Defending Tour de France champion and Sky leader Chris Froome had previously shown off the jersey when it was launched on June 1. The white kit will only be used during the Tour, and not any other races.

Swiss-registered squad Katusha-Alpecin have gone for a reworking of their red-and-white jersey, with German shampoo brand Alpecin’s logo right across the chest with red underneath and white above.

The back of the jersey retains the distinctive large ‘K’ logo of Katusha, which will show up nicely on those sweeping aerial TV images of the peloton.

>>> Tour de France route 2017: stages and key climbs

The cuffs of the Katusha jerseys and red shorts are light blue with branding for the team’s bike supplier Canyon.

The team’s Tony Martin and Alexander Kristoff will lead their hopes of stage victories.

Dutch team LottoNL-Jumbo also unveiled a new kit, where the black and yellow panels are reversed compared to pre-Tour kit. This prevents potential confusion with the Tour leader’s yellow jersey.

The 2017 Tour de France kicks off in Düsseldorf on Saturday, July 1, and concludes three weeks later in Paris on Sunday, July 23.