total blackout.

curious.

at the start of the tourocali last year i made this post. it was in regards to the trending of pro teams, domestic and not, to the color black in their kits.

formerly this was somewhat taboo for various reasons from "too hot" to "looks amateur".
ever since they figured out how to sublimate the lycra on bibs, it has been a full color free-for-all. (with mapei winning the fight, btw).

this year black is out.
way out.

what's in? white.

god knows why.

fdj has pretty much owned white for the last few seasons. no one wants to touch it.
gets dirty. asscracks. blah blah blah.

now suddenly, this:



the whole peloton is wearing more white than an alabama klan rally.

quickstep.
highroad.
bmc.
csc.
jelly belly (ahead of the curve, white kits last year too).
even astana whose kits main color can best be described as "puke", has white all over the place.

didn't really see this change coming. can't say i approve.

one white kit i do approve of:



levi's "retro" stars and stripes kit.
as far as us champ kits go this is hot stuff. it is very hard to make america's flag look good.

i just want to applaude teams like bissell, rock racing, bouygues telecom, lgr, rabobank, and even cofidis (not at the toc), for going with a sense of style over the current lame trend.

i also like that the toc is interesting so far this year.