The UCI wouldn’t actually disqualify Pogačar over his shorts…right?

Move over sock length, the fashion police have moved onto something else. On Stage 3, Tadej Pogačar was wearing an unusual maglia rosa skinsuit—with a pink jersey and ciclamino-coloured bibs. Initially many wondered if there had been some sort of mix-up, since the shorts resembled the colour of the sprint leader’s jersey.

“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.

The reason for Pogačar’s mismatching shorts

Turns out, although the shorts did resemble the sprint kit, it wasn’t an exact match. RCS wanted to pay tribute to the Torino soccer team. It was commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Superga air disaster, a tragic event in which a plane carrying the Torino FC team crashed, and all 31 . The shorts were in the colour of the Italian club.

However, the UCI did not dig it, since the leader’s kit is supposed to be all matchy-matchy. CEO of RCS Sport Paolo Bellino did not agree with the fine folks in Lausanne.

The UCI did not like it one bit

“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 afterward. “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.”

Would the UCI actually disqualify Pogačar?

According to cyclingnews, the UCI got big mad about the kit. The commissaires called UAE Team Emirates after the stage and told them that if Pogačar showed up on Tuesday in the same pink and purple duds, they’d throw him out of the race.

LOL, c’mon. No they wouldn’t. Can you imagine the international headlines? “Giro d’Italia leader ejected from race for wearing the wrong colour shorts.” I mean, it’s fair to have rules, but if the jury threatened this, they were clearly blowing smoke.

I mean, sure, there was that time the UCI fined Annemiek van Vleuten after she won the road her sock length. That wasn’t the only clothing issue that day either. After 20 km of the race the UCI jury told her that her skinsuit she was wearing was “too orange” and didn’t match the rest of her team. They were wearing a whiter and slightly…