Rainbow stylin' - The bike and kit designs of world road race champions past and present

The title of World Champion may just stand alone as the highest possible achievement in road cycling. Of course, it depends on who you ask; monuments, Grand Tour titles and the Olympic Games are all massive victories that make careers. But does something about the siren call of the rainbow jersey make every rider dream?

Every year, the new world champion earns the right to wear the rainbow jersey for one year. The rainbow jersey's simple design is based on the Olympic ring colours, and it was first awarded to Alfredo Binda in 1927. The first women's championship followed later in 1958 and was won by Elsy Jacobs.

Once the new world champion has won their rainbow prize, thoughts often turn to style and aesthetics. The sight of the world champion resplendent in their newly designed rainbow kit, on a custom-painted bike, is always a special moment.

Like countless other cycling fans, the Cyclingnews team waits excitedly each year to see what kit designs and colour schemes the new world road race champion will have chosen and how they will look on their often custom bike.

This year, we didn't have to wait too long to see new champions Brandon McNulty and Demi Vollering appear in their new kit. McNulty rides a Colnago Y1RS, and his new bike is largely black with a rainbow smattering. Vollering and Specialized, on the other hand, have gone all in on the white and rainbow.

Here we are taking a look at both McNulty and Vollering's bikes and kit designs. It's probably safe to assume their kits and bikes may get changed and updated over the course of the next twelve months, but we have the first versions now.

We've also looked back at a few male and female world champions from the modern era and taken a look back at their bike and kit designs.

Some rode in rainbow everything, whilst others kept it more conservative and let the jersey do the talking.

Mens world champions

Brandon McNulty

Image 1 of 3

Brandon McNulty shocked pretty much everyone when he raced to a solo win at the recent Montreal Worlds.

Whilst McNulty's pedigree is beyond question, no one really expected to see him pull on the rainbow jersey a few weekends ago. As one of Tadej Pogačar's lieutenants, it was somehow even more interesting to see the jersey pass from the master to one of his teammates.

We didn't have to wait long to see McNulty's kit; he's riding a black Colnago Y1RS with rainbow forks, seat tube and seat stays.

Look a bit closer, and the bike's details jump out: the paint has a silvery holographic sheen in places, and the bayonet headtube, concealed until the bars turn, shows the date of the World Champs victory and a Canadian maple leaf.

McNulty's kit looks pretty simple: black shorts with a rainbow band, and stock shoes and helmet. The days of rainbow everything seem slightly out of style right now.

The colder months are coming; maybe we will see McNulty break out the white shorts once the sun makes its return.

Mark Cavendish

Image 1 of 2

We now wind the clock back the best part of 15 years to 2012, when Sir Mark Cavendish was reigning World Road Race Champion.

Cavendish spent a single year at Team Sky and raced on a Pinarello Dogma during his year as World Champ.

Cavendish preferred a more traditional kit and bike design for his year in rainbows. He raced on an all-black Pinarello Dogma that had just a few small rainbow bands here and there.

The shorts were always black; if Cavendish ever rode in white shorts, we can't find a picture of it. The jersey was also relatively clear of multiple sponsors' logos.

The helmet was black, as were the Nike shoes, though they did have a small rainbow flag. Cavendish seemed to prefer to let his legs do the talking, and his kit seemed to hark back to a bygone era of World Champions.

Philippe Gilbert

Image 1 of 3

Philippe Gilbert succeeded Mark Cavendish as World Champion the following year in Valkenburg, winning with a monstrous big ring attack on the Cauberg. The win helped Gilbert cement his legacy as one of the greatest one-day riders ever.

Gilbert's rainbow styling was very different from Cavendish's and was pretty much an all-rainbow-everything approach.

The shorts were white, the DMT shoes had a rainbow design, so did the helmet, the track mitts, and the SRM computer box. Throw in the classic drop handlebars wrapped with white bar tape to match the saddle, and it was a perfect image of late 2000s euro style.

Gilert rode a BMC bike that used a largely black colour scheme with a white top tube and fork, with some rainbows thrown in for good measure. There was probably enough white going on everywhere else.

Paolo Bettini 

Image 1 of 3

In 2006, Paolo Bettini was the reigning Olympic, World and Italian road race champion, which in simple terms means he knew how to race a bike.

The Italian star went all in for the most part, fully embracing racing in an all-white kit and shorts, with lots of rainbow and gold accessories and accents, as befitting the Olympic champion.

There were special touches like a custom white and rainbow Selle Italia Flite saddle for the Italian at Quick-Step, as well as seriously bling rainbow, white and gold Sidi shoes. His shorts interestingly featured rainbow stripes, not bands.

Bettini also won back-to-back world titles in 2006 and 2007, meaning he enjoyed two rainbow-clad years whilst at the peak of his powers.

Bettini raced on a Time VXRS bike with Fulcrum wheels at Quick-Step, and his time frame did not escape a largely all-white and rainbow paint scheme.

In his second year as World Champ, Bettini was riding a Specialized Tarmac SL2 with a largely white paint job.

The Italian was a shorter rider, and his in-the-drops attacking style and panache made him a very exciting world champion to watch race. Like Tadej Pogačar some years later, he also won at the end-of-season Tour of Lombardy whilst wearing the rainbow jersey.

Womens world champions

Demi Vollering

Image 1 of 3

Demi Vollering sprinted to her first elite World title in Montreal this year, claiming the rainbow jersey after several years of trying.

Vollering has already taken victory in the rainbow jersey, defending the European road race title she also won in 2025.

We got a first look at Vollering's rainbow Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL9 at the Euros, and it features an all-white paint job, with rainbow flourishes on the top tube, seat tube, seat post and fork legs.

There are even some special touches here and there, like the World's race time on the top tube.

Vollering is no stranger to the all-white look, having raced as European champion through 2025 in an all-white kit. She raced the Euros in her Dutch national kit, but don't be surprised to see the white kit come out when she is back in FDJ United - Suez trade team colours.

Lotte Kopecky

Image 1 of 3

Lotte Kopecky is a double world champion on the road and a multiple world champion on the track as well as the victor of many other races.

The aggressive Belgian raced in black shorts and a white kit during her reign as world road race champion.

A stylish rider with a deadly sprint, Kopecky took victory at the Belgian championships and Paris-Roubaix in an all-white skinsuit, interestingly with quite a narrow rainbow band design, but she has raced in the familiar black and rainbow-banded shorts too.

Her bikes were fairly simple with no crazy all-rainbow paint schemes. Kopecky used a largely white Tarmac SL7, as well as an all-black bike for certain races.

Anna van der Breggen

Image 1 of 3

Dutch legend Anna Van der Breggen was World Champion in 2018 and 2020, and made a return to the peloton for 2025 and 26 after a few years of retirement.

Van der Breggen rode for the Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team during her years as the World Champion and raced on custom Specialized bikes both times.

Her first rainbow bike in 2018/19 was a Specialized Tarmac SL6 disc, and it used a black base with a rainbow splatter-type paint job all over the frame. The Zipp wheels also had rainbow details, but the bar tape and saddle were black.

At the time, designer Ryan Jones called the design;

"An energetic explosion of colour in an all-over frame application draws the eye from front to back, giving the frame an element of speed while maintaining its brash 'In Your Face' style."

Her 2020/21 S-Works Tarmac SL7 bike used a simpler design that really stood out, using the individual rainbow colours along the lower half of the frame, across the chainstay and seat stays, seat tube, down tube and forks.

Van der Breggen tended to race in black shorts with some rainbow bands, though she did race in simple white socks with rainbow bands and a custom rainbow helmet.

Amalie Dideriksen

Image 1 of 4

Dane Amalie Dideriksen won the World Road title in 2016 around Doha's flat, hot and exposed course.

Only when you start counting back do you see that riders have won a lot of world titles on Specialized bikes, especially in the women's ranks.

Dideriksen raced on a very classy-looking white Specialized Amira, a women's specific model.

The Amira looked very simple and clean from a distance, but up close it had a glittering white design, gold head tube badge, and rainbow logo outline.

Plenty of riders have ridden black world champs bikes over the years, but does something about that clean, white frame add a real touch of class?

The Zipp wheels had some rainbow decals, and she ran special segmented gold brake outer housing, but the frame was plain white. Later in the year, Dideriksen also used an all-black SL6 model.