Good, Bad, and Ugly: National champion kit designs gallery
They aren't always great, but National Championship kits are always fun to look at. We've compiled a gallery of our best (and worst) picks over the years.
Fabian Cancellara's famed Swiss national kit from 2010 will forever be the image of his classics dominance. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.comPhoto: TDW
Simple and effective USA Stars and stripes design for Freddie Rodriguez in 2005. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
In 2013, a different story. Points for creativity and risk, but wow, that’s a whoole lotta beans. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Paolo Bettini’s Italian champion kit included some tights worthy of your nephew’s Spiderman costume. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
National champions also get to rock a patriotic bike, as George Hincapie did in 2007. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Paul Stanley from KISS would probably love Hincapie’s star-heavy kit from 2010. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
At the 2009 Tour de France Filippo Pozzato wore multiple Italian road champion kits. On stage nine the green stripe appears to be an Italian skyline graphic. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
By stage 15 Pozzato was having a good time in a vertical Tri-colore stripe design that made him look more like a jester than a bike racer. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
2005 Qatar National champion Tareq Esmaeili was sporting a National champion jersey sponsored by AljazeeraSport.com. Eddy approves. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Vino’s Kazakh national team kits have always displayed Easter egg-worthy yellow and teal. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Was Bad Company’s 1975 hit “Shooting Star” on the radio when Astana designed Levi’s 2008 kit? Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Speaking of bad company, Tyler Hamilton went for the bad boy champion look in 2009. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Tyler’s 2009 kit is still the most polarizing USA national kit of all time. Photo: Brad Kaminski | VeloNews.com
Marc de Marr showed off his Curacao National champion kit in 2011. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Small stars, big Shack. Matthew Buche’s kit from 2011 had it all. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
In 2016, Busche’s kit looked like patriotic pajamas. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Thor Smash! Hushov’s Norwegian national kit included design on the helmet, gloves and bibs. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Edvald Boasson Hagen’s Norwegian kit, however, went for a simpler design on the jersey. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Richey Porte’s Australian national kit would look great at a Green Bay Packers game. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Daryl Impey’s South African National TT champion skinsuit has subtle bands of the national colors. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
A VeloNews favorite: Nibali’s simple-yet-classic national kit blends well with Astana blue. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
The wide stripes of the Czech National kit is hard to miss on the road but easy to confuse with other tri-stripe designs that use the same colors. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Another simple design that gets major sartorial points. Peter Kennaugh’s kit gets the point across without blinding the viewer. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Fabian Cancellara’s famed Swiss national kit from 2010 will forever be the image of his classics dominance. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
Peter Sagan’s national kit from 2013 put the Slovak coat of arms on his chest. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
You may require sunglasses to look directly at Sagan’s most recent national championship kit. We don’t care, it’s worth a peek. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
This weekend, Europe’s best cyclists will battle it out in their various national championship events. What’s at stake? A chance to wear a national championship kit at the Tour de France. Over the years, these kits have ranged from the great, to the good, to the downright bizarre. Above, we’ve compiled a collection of our best (and worst) in national championship kits.
