EF Pro Cycling and Rapha have revealed their black “switch-out” kit for the Giro d’Italia and the Giro d’Italia Women.
The men’s and women’s teams, EF Education-EasyPost and EF Education-Cannondale, will wear the black kit with pink and yellow highlights at the Italian Grand Tour instead of their usual pink jersey, in order not to clash with the maglia rosa.
With the general classification leader wearing pink, EF’s riders in recent years have taken to wearing a different colour to distinguish themselves. The men’s Giro begins on Saturday, 4 May, in Turin. Read about the Giro route here.
There was no announcement or press release to accompany the kit launch, however, just a solitary Instagram post.
Rapha wrote: Since 2020 Rapha and EF Pro Cycling have taken to the stage at the Giro d’Italia in a series of switch-out kit designs. Because EF’s signature pink clashes with the Corsa Rosa’s very own leader’s jersey, the race organisers require the jersey to be distinguishable from the Maglia Rosa. This annual EF kit switch-out has become a beautiful tradition, announcing EF’s arrival at Europe’s most jaw-dropping grand tour.
“For EF’s Italian job the design for 2024 is a colour reversal with reworked graphic phrases in ‘Italian’ such as VAI, In Bocca al Lupo and PIZZA PASTA SCALA FASTA. We will be releasing both a special edition Pro Team Training Jersey with the same design as EF’s team issue jersey and Pro Team Aero Jersey with a minimal, abstracted version of the design for a more streamlined aesthetic.”
(Image credit: Rapha/Harry Talbot)
In previous years, EF has worn a number of radically different jerseys at the Giro, including a 2020 effort in collaboration with skate brand Palace which saw the American team fined by cycling’s governing body, the UCI.
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In 2021 and 2022, the team wore jerseys with a black background but different highlight colours, as this year. Last year, the team wore a kit consisting of yellow, green, blue, orange and black, to highlight Rapha’s new Excess program.
EF head to Italy with a squad aiming for stage wins, including Simon Carr, a recent winner at the Tour of the Alps, and former runner-up Esteban Chaves.
It’s far from the first time a team have changed their kit for a Grand Tour; Jumbo-Visma (now Visma-Lease a Bike) have often changed their kit at the Tour de France to avoid clashes with the yellow jersey, while teams like Bora-Hansgrohe, dsm-firmenich PostNL, and Ineos Grenadiers have ridden in special edition kits for Grand Tours.
EF are not alone in changing kit for this year’s Giro, too. Intermarché-Wanty are in a paler affair for the next three weeks, paying tribute to their Italian sponsor Vini Fantini.