Color | Sports
On Color & Cycling
From the maillot jaune to the maglia rosa, how color defines the world of cycling.
It’s 2005. You turn on the TV in the middle of summer and skim past the channels. For a split second, you stop to watch Lance Armstrong on yet another podium wearing all yellow. He holds up a stuffed animal of a lion in one hand, a bouquet of blooming yellow flowers in the other, and is accompanied by a beautiful mademoiselle in a yellow dress on either side. He is radiant, standing on a yellow stage with the Arc de Triomphe as a backdrop. It’s his 7th time up there, a champion of the prestigious Tour de France.
You suddenly remember you have an old rubber bracelet somewhere that reads “LIVESTRONG”. It’s also bright yellow.
But this is not about Lance Armstrong and his controversial cycling career; this is about the overwhelming presence and inherent influence of the color yellow (and a few other colors) in the cycling world.
In cycling, the Grand Tours are considered the most famous stage races in competitive road cycling: Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España. Each of these races spans over several weeks, where each day is called a “stage”. You see teams of eight cyclists donning their team jerseys, usually clad in the sponsors’ logos. But you can also see a handful of individuals who sport a different jersey than their teammates – and it's very apparent by its clashing color.
A handful of individuals sport a different jersey than their teammates — and it’s very apparent by its clashing color.
However, in each of the three Grand Tours, these color jerseys (or maillots, pardon my french) are different hues and have different meanings.
The Colors of Victory
In each stage of a race, the rider who has the overall best and fastest time is in contention to become the champion. So, throughout each stage, the race leader gets to wear the following colors:
In the Tour de France, the color of victory is yellow, and the rider wears the maillot jaune. The jersey took its color after the pages of the magazine L’Auto, the race’s sponsor in 1919.
In the Giro d’Italia the race leader wears a pink jersey, or famed maglia rosa.
The contending champion in the Vuelta a España wears red, the maillot rojo. Red is considered a national color, the protagonist in the country’s flag, the color of the soccer team jerseys, and the tint of the country’s best wines.
The Colors of Speed
In some stages there are sprint sections, where riders must ride as fast as possible between two checkpoints. The fastest cyclist earns the most points and the chance to wear a special fit. The cyclist with the best sprint times can wear the following jerseys:
The speediest rider of the Tour de France and the Vuelta wear a green jersey. The green reminds us of traffic lights and “GO!” signals, nudging the human’s subconscious of its need for speed.
In the Giro d’Italia, the sprinter's jersey is also called the points jersey and is awarded to the overall most consistent rider. The rider wears a magenta jersey, or the maglia ciclamino, alluding to the cyclamen flower.
The Colors of Strength
Some segments in each race are mountainous, harsh terrains, suited for the best climbers, strongest riders, or Kings and Queens of the Mountain. These powerful cyclists can wear:
The white jersey with red polka dots in the Tour de France; a royal blue jersey in the Giro; and a white jersey with blue polka dots in the Vuelta a España.
I have yet to figure out where the polka dots in these jerseys came from.
The Color of Youth
The Tour de France and the Giro award a special jersey for the best overall rider under 25 years old. The best and youngest wears a white jersey. Perhaps reiterating white as the color of youth, innocence, purity.
Yet in the Vuelta, the white jersey is given to the rider with the most overall consistency and the best combination of times around the different terrains.
It is clear how the color of each jersey brings a shot of ego boost to the proud cyclist who wears it. Riders around them know what to expect from the colorful competitor, and the audience watching from home can easily recognize the best riders in the crowd.
Color plays with the cyclists’ minds and changes their game.
About the Author
Cristina Gómez is an architect and designer with a trained eye for color and a weak spot for craftsmanship. She has drawn design and color inspiration from traditional Guatemalan textiles and vintage Italian bicycles to far-away fashion shows on Zoom and a trip to the fruit section of the supermarket. She explores the dynamic role of craft in modern culture through her multidisciplinary projects.
She is a graduate from the University of Southern California, where she received her Bachelor in Architecture, and from the Politecnico di Milano, with a Masters in Color Design and Technology. She currently teaches at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in her home country, Guatemala.
