‘If there are negative responses, at least we’ve stayed true to what we do’ – Maap makes WorldTour debut with sponsorship of Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco

Melbourne-based cycling apparel brand Maap has today announced a multi-year sponsorship deal of Australian WorldTour teams Jayco-AlUla and Liv-AlUla-Jayco, as well as the women’s Liv-AlUla-Jayco Continental team. 

Visually the new team kit, common across both men’s and women’s teams save for sponsor logos, is a departure from the norm for the WorldTour. But rather than the purple and deep blue jerseys, it is likely the light grey of the shorts here that will turn heads initially. Outside of the world champion and national champions’ occasional use of white shorts, black is very much the standard option in the pro peloton. AG2R La Mondiale created a certain cult following around their brown shorts in recent years (this writer being a big fan), but have since returned to black.