UCI rejects Bizkaia-Durango kit due to clash with Women's WorldTour leader's jersey

By Patrick Fletcher
published

Spanish team deep pink colours rejected twice as 2022 season debut nears

HOOGEVEEN NETHERLANDS OCTOBER 23 LR Daniela Campos of Portugal Aileen Schweikart of Germany Ariana Gilabert Vilaplana of Spain Sandra Alonso Dominguez of Spain Marina Garau Roca of Spain and Team Bizkaia Durango during the team presentation prior to the 17th UCI Womens WorldTour Ronde van Drenthe 2021 a 1591km one day race from Assen to Hoogeveen UCIWWT RondevDrenthe on October 23 2021 in Hoogeveen Netherlands Photo by Bas CzerwinskiGetty Images
Bizkaia Durango's 2021 kit (Image credit: Getty Images)

For a second time ahead of the 2022 season, the UCI has forced a women's team into a late kit redesign, with Bizkaia-Durango (opens in new tab) told to alter their pink look.

Last month, the Andy Schleck-CP NVST-Immo Losch (opens in new tab) team were told to ditch the kits they'd already produced due to a clash with three WorldTour teams who had chosen the same orange, purple, and pink colour scheme.

On Tuesday, Bizkaia-Durango announced that they too, had been told to go back to the drawing board because of a clash with the UCI's own jersey for the leader of the Women's WorldTour.

That jersey has been plum purple in recent years but became a lighter shade in 2021, with a lighter torso panel approaching the deep pink that Bizkaia-Durango have been wearing in recent years. 

The UCI's design for the 2022 WWT leader's jersey has not yet been unveiled but the Spanish team revealed they'd had two versions of their 2022 kit rejected already.

"At this late time of the preseason we would have loved to show our kit for the 2022 season, but sadly we cannot yet," read a statement.

"We have worn pink for the last six seasons and this has become one of the hallmarks of the team. The Union Cycliste Internationale has rejected two different designs of our kit due to their similarity to the UCI Women's WorldTour leader's jersey.

"We don't know yet if we will be able to wear our colour this season, but we hope to show our new skin soon."

The news comes on the back of the controversy surrounding the Andy Schleck-CP NVST-Immo Losch, who were forced to back down in the face of SD Worx, UAE Team, and Human Powered Health, despite claiming they'd submitted their design first. They launched a sale of the rejected kit in order to recoup their costs and managed to sell the lot.

It is more common for the UCI to intervene over clashes with leaders' jerseys, notably in major stage races, with Jumbo-Visma having to tweak their yellow jerseys for the Tour de France in recent years. 

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Patrick Fletcher
Patrick Fletcher
Deputy Editor

Deputy Editor. Patrick is an NCTJ-trained journalist who has seven years’ experience covering professional cycling. He has a modern languages degree from Durham University and has been able to put it to some use in what is a multi-lingual sport, with a particular focus on French and Spanish-speaking riders. After joining Cyclingnews as a staff writer on the back of work experience, Patrick became Features Editor in 2018 and oversaw significant growth in the site’s long-form and in-depth output. Since 2022 he has been Deputy Editor, taking more responsibility for the site’s content as a whole, while still writing and - despite a pandemic-induced hiatus - travelling to races around the world. Away from cycling, Patrick spends most of his time playing or watching other forms of sport - football, tennis, trail running, darts, to name a few, but he draws the line at rugby.