When Tadej Pogačar rolled up to the start of Stage 3 in ciclamino-coloured bibs, the cycling world said, “huh?”
He had his maglia rosa on, so the shorts didn’t match the drapes, as it were. They were purple, and everyone wondered why. This sparked speculation that he had unintentionally put on the shorts meant for the leader of the sprint standings, despite being in second place behind Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane).
The UCI wasn’t having it
“The organizers gave us the skinsuit, so I put it on, but then we got a call from the UCI saying that it is not allowed,” he explained.
On Stage 4, his skinsuit had black shorts. So why was the previous one pink and purple?
It appears that the race organizers RCS intended to pay tribute to Torino by having the cyclists wear shorts reminiscent of the city’s soccer team at the start of the race in Torino. This was in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Superga air disaster, a tragic event in which a plane carrying the Torino FC team crashed, resulting in the loss of all 31 individuals on board. The shorts were in the colour of the Italian club. However, the folks in Switzerland who pride themselves on measuring socks, didn’t like it. The
CEO of RCS Sport Paolo Bellino did not agree with the UCI ruling.
“We made a pink jersey with garnet, (dark reddish-brown shade, which is the colour of the Torino jersey) shorts, which recalls the great start on May 4,” Bellino said in an interview with Eurosport.
“In my opinion, absolutely as per the rules, we have matching colours. It is clear that it is a little different from that of the past but in my opinion, and in Castelli’s opinion, we are perfectly compliant with the regulation which talks about harmonization and matching. In my opinion, the two colours match and are harmonized together.”
Pogacar had black shorts for Tuesday’s race. Stage 4 is 190 km from Acqui Terme to Andora.
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