New national champion jerseys, switch-out kits on display in Barcelona's splashy Tour de France team presentation

The Team Presentation for this year's Tour de France was more than a traditional introduction of 23 squads and their riders in a fashion show of gleaming bikes, newly-installed national champions and limited-edition outfits. Barcelona turned the team presentation into a one-and-half-hour cinematic experience, blending sports with circus, dance, music, and popular structures created by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.

The Spanish city made a splashy debut Thursday evening for its debut as the Grand Départ for the French Grand Tour. The teams paraded 850 metres along the famous pedestrian boulevard of Avenue de Gaudí.

A steady stream of teams began the process on their bikes starting at Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, the world's largest Art Nouveau complex. Then the eight riders for each team rode their bikes onto a main stage in front of the towering basilica of Sagrada Familia with enthusiastic crowds seeing both Tour riders and the Gaudí masterpiece in front of them.

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Caja Rural-Seguros RGA was the first team to ride through throngs of spectators on Avenue de Gaudí and arrive on the stage to join a trio of journalists serving as hosts - Carlos de Andrés, Elisenda Pineda and Jordi Basté.

Lotto Intermarché was among the first group of teams introduced, being recognised for their 40th appearance in the Tour.

Two teams featured all-French lineups - Groupama-FDJ United and TotalEnergies - with Groupama's Romain Grégoire showcasing his new red-white-blue national jersey as the road race national champion.

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It was just one week ago that many of the national champions earned their signature jerseys to display at the Tour. There were 11 of the titlists clad in their country's colours and about to flash their wearable trophies at the Grand Tour.

In addition to Grégoire, new road champions included Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) of Colombia, Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) of Germany, Mexican Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG), Kazakh Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS Astana) and Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5) of Great Britain. George Bennett (NSN Cycling) for New Zealand, won his title back in January.

Two teams featured a pair of road champions each, with Lidl-Trek having USA's Quinn Simmons and Czechia's Mathias Vacek, a double road champion. Uno-X Mobility's pair of winners were Anders Skaarseth of Norway and Magnus Cort of Denmark, who is set to retire at the end of the year.

Time trial national champions will only sport their national jerseys one day, on stage 16's 26.1km contest, as the custom skin suits are not allowed in the team event, which will open the Tour on Saturday in Barcelona.

The five riders to watch in the race against the clock this year are Italian Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Irishman Ryan Mullen (NSN Cycling), Vacek of Czechia and a pair of riders on UAE Team Emirates-XRG, German Nils Politt and Austrian Felix Großschartner.

Teams like Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Jayco-AlUla modelled their new Tour change-out kits with splashes of green with traditional colours, while Movistar and Visma-Lease a Bike jerseys included geometric and architectural drawings inspired by Gaudi.

Visma-Lease a Bike had two Barcelona-inspired Tour kits, and two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard sported the the dark kit Thursday evening, though the team were seen on a TTT training ride in their lighter-coloured 'rest day' kits.

"I'm happy to be here in Barcelona. I was here also three months ago for the [Volta a] Catalunya, and I enjoyed my time back then," Vingegaard told the crowd, referring to his GC win in March at the seven-day Spanish stage race.

"I feel like I'm ready for the Tour. Yes, I had a very good year. I think I'm better than I've ever been before, and I'm really looking forward to this race as well."

The crowd saved their loudest cheers for the final squad, with four-time Tour winner Tadej Pogačar all smiles with freshly-cut blonde hair, who rode on the stage last with his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates.

"Already GC day the first day with the team time trial," the defending champion said about the first day of competition in Barcelona on Saturday.

"I'm just happy to be here in front of this [Sagrada Familia], in front of these people here, and just a beautiful reception here in Barcelona."

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