All the special Tour de France switch-out kits you need to watch out for over the next three weeks

The extravaganza of cycling that is the Tour de France is upon us, and that means many teams will be sporting special kits for the next month, to help us spot them in the peloton and give their sponsors some eye-catching real estate as star riders are broadcast around the world, pedalling across majestic mountain passes, huffing a puffing up hors catégorie climbs and sprinting for coveted stage wins.

In Grand Tours, certain coloured jerseys have huge significance, so some teams have to change their kits in order to avoid creating confusion. So, let’s have a look what some of the best-known names in cycling will be wearing when you next see them, as they prepare to tackle the 3320.7km route.

Visma-Lease a Bike

In the case of Visma-Lease a Bike, a wardrobe change is always required – since they usually race in a yellow kit that would look rather presumptuous during La Grande Boucle. The Dutch team decided on a design featuring iconic buildings and a honeycomb motif that signifies strength, all inspired by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who shaped the skyline of Barcelona where the Tour begins with a team time trial on Saturday.

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However, someone then came up with the bright idea of letting fans decide which colour their riders should be sweating in, and given a choice between a cool white and a heat-conducting black kit, the sagacious supporters went with… the latter. However, team Head of Performance, Mathieu Heijboer, insists that the fabric is far more important than the colour, and says they’ve tested the clobber on “mannequins that can sweat”, and got no complaints from the crash test dummies. Whether Jonas Vingegaard will be so understanding, we shall soon find out.

Movistar

Movistar have chosen bust out some new threads for the Tour, as their standard white kits could cause confusion with the best young rider jersey. The Spanish team, which will be led by Belgian Cian Uijtdebroeks, have gone with a brilliant blue kit, with graphics also inspired by the signature architecture that surrounds the Grande Depart. The subtle design features some of the "shapes, textures and geometries of the Sagrada Família" – although you’d need to be a Gaudí expert to spot them.

Jayco AlUla

In an unforced change, Australian team Jayco AlUla have pimped their purple Maap kit, with the prominent addition of some go-faster green flames rising from the waist and the sleeves. Impressively, the hot design – which will help multiple stage-winner and veteran puncheur Michael Matthews, plus Luke Plapp, Ben O'Connor and co stand out in the peloton – was first unveiled during Paris Fashion Week.

Pinarello Q36.5

For their debut appearance at the Tour, Tom Pidcock and his Pinarello-Q36.5 squadmates will be trading the team’s typical navy gear for a special light-blue and faint grey-coloured kit that promises to keep them cool.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

Another wild card entry taking part in this year’s race, for the first time Spanish outfit Caja Rural-Seguros RGA are celebrating their debut appearance at the world’s biggest bike race with a classic kit coloured green and white (a nod to an earlier incarnation of the team, way back in the 1980s), which poignantly features the inscription ‘#ForçaJaume’, a touching reference to team rider Jaume Guardeño, who was seriously injured in a crash in April and remains in neurological rehab.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe

German team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have gone with a redesign rather than a complete palette change for the Tour, and the squad – led by Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz – will be rolling out in a kit that remains blue and red on white, but with some extra design flourishes and patterns.

National Champions

The other distinctive kits you might spot at the Tour are the jerseys worn by national champions, including the one very newly minted for freshly crowned British champion Fred Wright (Pinarello Q36.5).