With Ineos Grenadiers getting in early with its look for 2022, we've put together a selection of the other new uniforms ready for the start of the coming season. While some teams have stuck to pretty familiar themes, others have gone a bit bolder, and some are still yet to be announced, including the notoriously stylish EF Education - Nippo.
Almost equally early in its release as Ineos was the AG2R Citroën Team, which announced that its kit was staying absolutely the same. However, given it’s quite nice, we have no beef with. Jumbo-Visma took to social media to announce it had shuffled around some logos. At the same time, their rivals Lotto Soudal opted for a marginally more radical makeover, ditching their black bands for a lighter red and white look.
The consistently well turned-out Trek-Segafredo also reformed its men’s and women’s kits, which are now much more similar across genders. Also in matching garms, men and women at Team DSM gain more sponsors to display on their epaulettes, while Movistar’s riders switch to a deeper shade of blue. Of the few standalone Women's WorldTeams to launch their 2022 wardrobes, SD Worx flips the order of its striking, if somewhat divisive, purple/pink fade.
So far, a little boring. I guess everyone is waiting for EF Education - Nippo to announce that its 2022 team kit will only be available as an NFT or something similarly whacky.
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SD Worx
Having previously been purple on the top and pink on the bottom, this year’s SD Worx kit flips this around. With a sunny yellow burst on the back, the addition of matching gradient pattern helmets and arm warmers just about helps the whole thing hang together.
EF Education
Still very pink, this year, both of Jonathan Vaughters’ squads pick up new sponsors. With EF Education retaining the title spot for both teams, the men also pick up EasyPost, while the women add softwear firm TIBCO and Silicone Valley Bank. However, despite the differing sponsors, both kits are very similar. Sort of glitchy looking in style, their fractured pattering is a nod to the Argyl print found on the early Slipstream kits. So far, no ducks in sight. You can read more on the launch here.
Human Powered Health
Déjà vu? Human Powered Health's jersey shares an uncanny resemblance with that of SD Worx, as do many of the newly released jerseys in the women's peloton. Pink and orange must be in season?
The amount of women's teams with similar jersey designs eventually led to the UCI controversially asking two continental teams to change their jerseys ahead of the 2022 season, so as not to be confused with their WorldTour competitors. Luckily for SD Worx and Human Powered Health, they were allowed to keep their designs as shown above, leaving two WWT teams in very similar outfits. Cycling commentators, we feel for you!
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AG2R Citroën Team
Weirdly scanning typography aside, this jersey is easily nice enough for a second go around. Ensuring the entire team’s old kit proceeds to the laundry and not the landfill, the AG2R Citroën Team mob stick with precisely the outfits they wore last season.
Astana Qazaqstan
Last year's two-tone blue and diamond-scale transition remain, only the sponsors’ logos move around. Out goes Premier Tech, and in comes Qazaqstan. Not a company but a different way of spelling ‘Kazakhstan’, the change has been occasioned by the country’s decision to ditch the Cyrillic alphabet. If you’re interested in the intersection of geopolitics and language in the post-soviet context the whole saga is well worth a google.
CANYON//SRAM Racing
Image: Thomas Maheux
Did we really expect any less from Canyon SRAM? Classy, unique and colourful, the team’s latest jersey could well be one of its best. Created by Ultan Coyle – an ex-Rapha designer – but made by Canyon themselves who have also become the team’s clothing providers, the jersey “comprises nature’s meteorological displays and their associated human interpretations.” We’re not totally sure what it means, but we like it.
Ineos Grenadiers
As an attempt to communicate personality by a team that formerly formulated its riders’ nicknames by either adding a 'y' to their surname or reducing it to its first letter, we think this jersey works well.
Related: Outfitting Team Ineos – How Bioracer picked up the biggest deal in cycling apparel
Lotto Soudal
Photo credit: Facepeeters
To say that Lotto Soudal’s kit always has a slightly retro feel might be to fundamentally misunderstand Belgian cycling culture. Either way, the switch to a primarily red and white livery ensures they remain one of the best-dressed outfits in the peloton. Already a future classic.
Movistar Team
Movistar swaps from its instantly recognisable but slightly anaemic light blue to this much bolder shade. One of the few kits so far released to have a complete overhaul; it’s nice while still being somewhat middle of the road. Traditionally employing the same design across both squads, the women riders at Movistar also migrate over to a darker blue.
Team DSM
Less a change than a redistribution of logos, both men’s and women’s kits remain essentially unchanged.
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Team Jumbo-Visma
Now with a big C for Cervelo on the shoulders instead of a black stripe, Team Jumbo Visma’s kit is pretty much unchanged save for some shuffling of its sponsor’s logos.
Weirdly some photos show the new women’s kit with the same extra green Campina diary logo as the men’s, although in others, it does without. We’ll look to bring you clarity on the issue as soon as possible — assuming there's absolutely nothing else for us to be getting on with.
UAE Team Emirates
A bit of a snooze-fest from UAE Team Emirates, with the jersey staying largely the same as year's previous. With Tadej Pogačar targeting a third consecutive Tour de France win in 2022, it could be that the team were worried a new look would be a bad omen? I guess, if it works, why change it?
Trek - Segafredo
Having previously employed red kits for the men and blue kits for the women, Trek - Segafredo has standardised its uniforms. Both kits are now identical, besides a central stripe in the same blue or red colour, plus matching cuffs on the shorts. Very clean and modern without being bland; both benefit from not having too many logos slapped all over them.
BORA - Hansgrohe
New kit sponsors of Bora-Hansgrohe, Le Col, brought absolute fire when designing the team's 2022 get up. Staying true to that striking green colour scheme, they've added lighter green and red accents in a patchwork style, apparently inspired by old US college/team patchwork quilts. It's a yes from us.
Related: The best men's jerseys
Team Cofidis
Team Cofidis was crying out for a kit update in 2022, with the old iteration of their jersey looking like something hastily put together on clip art, and the red shorts not helping with the look. The team will hope that their new 2022 outfit will bring a change of luck too, after a disappointing couple of seasons. We're big fans of the simple, but striking red and white combination and we much appreciate the minimal sponsors on the front of the kit.
The all new Cofidis women's team will also wear this outfit in the upcoming season.
Team BikeExchange - Jayco
Like Marmite, you either love it, or you hate it. Blue shorts are a bold choice, and we respect BikeExchange for thinking outside the box – if you're going to redesign a kit, we're all for making some big changes.
Pink for the girls and blue for the boys seems a little archaic, though, even if it is just to match the paint job on the team bikes.
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl
The loss of Deceuninck hasn't meant more space on the jersey of Quick-Step in 2022, as the Belgian flooring brand has quickly used up this spare fabric to promote its Alpha Vinyl range, leading to a new name for the team.
Still, we can't help but like the 2022 jerseys. Maybe it's the dark blue colour which has been synonymous with many of the team's most famous victories, it's a classic.
FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
Sticking with the dark blue theme, we present the jerseys of Women's WorldTeam FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope. Gobik has done a great job here, we like the subtle red shoulder fade and the white sleeves perfectly finish off the look. Also, that's what a national champion's jersey should look like... take note UAE Team Emirates.
Intermarche - Wanty Gobert
In true Belgian style, Wanty's 2022 kit remains plastered in sponsors, with the white base colour providing the perfect blank canvas to see how many can be squeezed in. Still, it's not a bad look with the fluorescent sleeve ensuring they'll be visible in the peloton.
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Team Israel-Premier Tech
We like the look of Team Israel-Premier Tech for 2022, and not just because it's a cool kit, but because some proper thought has gone into its design. The team explained that the pattern was inspired by the straight and round aesthetic lines of the Bauhaus style of Tel Aviv’s architecture. The result is a unique look which stays true to the colour scheme the team has worn since its inception.
Groupama-FDJ
No obvious deviation from last year’s kit means this French team won’t need to flog off their existing wardrobe. As always the team’s red, white, and blue kit nods to their Gallic origin. However, the nicest outfits are reserved for Kevin Geniets and Ignatas Konovalovas, whose minimalist national champion’s jerseys are truly splendid.
