Bahrain Victorious have unveiled a new look ahead of this year’s Tour de France, following the growing trend for teams to launch special edition kits at the Grand Tours.
The team is switching out their red, black, and blue look for a white jersey with gold and teal to pay homage to Bahrain’s pearling history.
The country has historically been a world centre for pearl fishing and pearl trading, with pearling the backbone of the country’s economy for many years. The team’s new design carries across the Alé kit, Rudy Project helmets, and Merida bikes.
Teal accents symbolise the waters of the Arabian Gulf, the team say, while the splashes of gold represent the glint of pearls.
The new design features four pearls across the top of the chest and also features the new design of one of the team’s principal sponsors, Bapco Energies. Otherwise, the sponsors on the jersey and shorts remain largely the same.
The team’s Merida bikes – the aero Reacto and the lightweight Scultura – also get new looks with the regular red and black paintwork ditched in favour of a clean white look with gold wording, teal trim, and a ‘Team Pearl’ decal on the top tubes.
The team are set to be led by Mikel Landa in July as he aims for the Tour podium for the first time. Stage hunters Matej Mohorič and Fred Wright are also down to take on the race, which kicks off in Bilbao on July 1.
The new kit is unlikely to be the only new design debuting at the Tour de France, with the race often seeing teams change up their look with special edition kits. Jumbo-Visma have already unveiled their star-themed kit for the race, while last year the Dutch squad did the same along with Bora-Hansgrohe, Israel-Premier Tech, Trek-Segafredo, and EF Education-EasyPost.
Before Bahrain’s kit switch, this year’s peloton has been awash with red kits, with Bahrain, Cofidis, Ineos Grenadiers, Arkéa-Samsic, and Lotto-Dstny all sporting red jerseys.
Meanwhile, the change to white could see them clash with white-clad squads AG2R Citroën, UAE Team Emirates, and possibly Trek-Segafredo depending on their rebrand to Lidl-Trek.
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