Alaphilippe and Bernal wearing custom made TT skinsuits at Tour de France

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Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) are each wearing custom made speed suits at the stage 13 Tour de France time trial in Pau to denote their leads in the general classification and best young rider classification, respectively.

The suits, which are made by race sponsor Le Coq Sportif, were tailored by the brand's staff on the eve of the time trial in Pau. The brand's prototype and pattern designers made the journey from Romilly-sur-Seine to Pau to measure the leaders at their hotel while in their preferred TT position, with the suits then cut and stitched into the correct size and presented to the respective riders.

Both Alaphilippe and Bernal opted for long sleeves despite the warm conditions, likely for the improved aerodynamic performance. Alaphilippe's suit had to have 10cm off of the sleeves, 3cm taken off the length of the legs, material taken away from the waist area to prevent any folding and the neck lowered by 1cm for improved aerodynamics.

Bernal had 7cm taken off the length of his sleeves and reduced in size by 1cm at the cuff, while the biceps area were tightened by 2cm. The length was also reduced by 2cm and 1.25cm of material was taken away at the waist.