Ranking the Tour de France 2021 special edition team kits

It has almost become a tradition these days to change your kit for the Tour de France with 2021 being no exception. 

Four teams have radically changed their looks with a few others adding sponsors here and there.

We take a look through them all and rank them on what we think is the best and worst new looks in the Tour de France peloton in the 108th edition of the event.

Alpecin-Fenix - 9/10

This jersey ticks all the boxes really. Its wildly different to everything in the peloton and with its look back to the old Mercier-BP-Hutchinson kit from the 60s and 70s which was the team that Mathieu van der Poel's late grandfather Raymond Poulidor rode for.

The nod back to Poulidor is a lovely touch by Alpecin-Fenix for Van der Poel who is making his Tour de France and Grand Tour debut.

The kit is a beauty. The classic pair of the bright purple and yellow with the black shorts is a great look, the only issue would be the white gloves, which were used in the original kit, but just don't look right now. On paper, the kit ticks almost all the boxes, making it a 9/10.

The kit was originally just for the race presentation that saw our rating drop to a 6/10, but the UCI has allowed the team to wear the kit during the race as the team's kit brand managed to make a skinsuit for Van der Poel just in time.

Bahrain Victorious - 8/10

The classic 'change-the-kit-to-white-for-the-Tour' option has been taken by Bahrain Victorious this year after teams like Bora-Hansgrohe and then Team Sky have done the same in the past.

But, the jersey is more about the message. The team are looking to raise money for a diabetes charity to battle the disease as well as obesity with their 'crypto art' design.

The jersey is peppered with stats about the risks of the disease with the hashtag of 'every pedal stroke's a victory'.

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The design is a smart one though. White with the touches of sky blue and the red written stats makes it a nice jersey with the team using their standard shorts and socks, it fits well. It does seem that Italian and Slovenian champions, Sonny Colbrelli and Matej Mohorič do not have any of the special touches to their new national champs jerseys though.

Team Qhubeka-NextHash by Burberry - 6/10

There will be some that adore this jersey with the Burberry design, but personally, it looks very cluttered. The colours are nice but there is way too much going on.

The top third of the jersey has so much on it, the rest is quite nice with the Burburry pattern on the Qhubeka hands being a really nice touch. But they do seem to have made a bit of a 'hash' of it.

Which brings me nicely to the next thing. The new name. NextHash are a crypto currency group that will bring plenty money to the sport, so that is a fantastic move by the team, hopefully, if this name is staying, the design is tidied up after the Tour de France. 

Bora-Hansgrohe - 8.5/10

The team that used to go from blacks and greens to whites and greens has done the opposite this year. After using their usual Tour de France look for their regular season design, the team have gone for a rather fetching looking black and green check style.

The team launched the kit by exceptionally styling Daniel Oss as the main man, seen as though Peter Sagan is back in his national champion's jersey again.

But it is a smart look is to celebrate the 120th anniversary of one of the lead sponsors, Hansgrohe. But it may get a bit lost in the peloton in the helicopter shots.

Team TotalEnergies - 7/10

This kit is making it's debut at the Tour but will be the team's look for, at least, the rest of the year as the French team's main sponsor, energy giant Total, has changed it's name to TotalEnergies.

It does bring a lot of colour (even more than Alpecin-Fenix) and with a rainbow look that may make world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) jealous.

It is a joyous look and does bring some more light to the peloton in a bunch of teams that had started to get a bit dark and minimalist, which is fine, but when a team comes along and breaks that mould it makes a bigger and better impact.

Team Jumbo-Visma - 7.5/10

Team Jumbo-Visma launched this black and yellow kit for the Tour so long ago it has been pretty easy to forget about. but, it is here and looks very smart. The main thing that lets the whole look down really is the blue front tyre, a rather odd choice.

The kit was launched as a public vote with three other options, with this one winning. Rightly so as well looking at the other two options. But the jerseys will all have fans names on them, aside from Wout van Aert who wears the Belgian national champions jersey instead.

It's a good look and is something they should've done last year as the yellow jersey did tend to get lost in the yellow and black train on occasion.

Team BikeExchange - 1/10

Of course, a new sponsor in cycling should be celebrated as it means more money can be pumped into the sport, however, it is a bit of a dull change to an already mediocre kit. *Sorry guys.

The sponsor is a tourist board for the beauty spot, Alula in Saudi Arabia. A bit of a surprise one, but sponsors are needed in cycling.

>>> Tour de France 2021 startlist: Teams for the 108th edition

It doesn't really add much to the style of the jersey though, with some jazzy writing on the shoulder it will get seen probably more than the other sponsors as we see the riders shoulders and face more than the rest generally.

Movistar Team - 1/10

Apparently Movistar Team have changed their kit slightly. I think you could be forgiven for asking in what way, well. One of the main sponsors, Telefónica has been given a bigger spot on the jersey, on the side with Telefónica Tech.

Telefónica is the Spanish brand that owns Movistar and British mobile network brand, O2, hence why they all appear on the jersey. 

But aside from that, much like BikeExchange, there is next to no change in the kit look.