After seven years of colouring the peloton in iconic pink jerseys, Rapha is leaving the WorldTour and its partnership with EF Pro Cycling.
“Lighter, faster, and brighter than ever before,” the British apparel brand joined the team in 2019 with the aim “to bring new excitement to professional racing”. 2019 was a moment of change, when Rapha began designing kits that turned its legacy on its head. The British brand went from solid, top-level kit to fun for EF.
“We’re going to be seen from outer space,” Lawson Craddock said after seeing the team’s now-iconic bright pink kit design.
103rd Giro d’Italia 2020 – Team Presentation
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The Giro d’Italia 2020 team presentation turned runway for the launch of Rapha’s first special kit with EF. They’d brought British skate brand, Palace, onto the project in an attempt to create “a team kit quite unlike any other seen in the peloton so far.”
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With clashing patterns and colours that bled into one another against a geometric background, the kit caused quite the hubbub – the team even had to pay out 4,500 CHF for wearing “non-compliant clothing during podium obligations” and not registering the new design within the 60-day rule. The unorthodox kit extended to helmets, eyewear and bicycles, too, with their riders time trialling while wearing a helmet painted as a duck.
104th Giro d’Italia 2021 – Stage 19
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After 2020’s madness, the team’s kit was, in 2021, decidedly more muted – though no less bold. In blocks of colour, overlaid with geometric shapes, the ‘Euphoria’ kit was designed to celebrate the international riders coming together to compete for a common goal.
“From Italy to the world, look out for a splash of colour at the first Grand Tour of 2021,” read Rapha’s press release.
The Giro also showcased another of Rapha’s latest designs – the TT Aerosuit, which they claimed saved 12.4 watts at 55 km/h relative to the previous team’s suits.
33rd Giro d’Italia Donne 2022 – Stage 10
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2022 marked not only a new kit for the team, but a new name, too, as EF Education-Nippo transitioned to EF Education-EasyPost, and the women’s team, Tibco-SVB, joined the EF Education stable.
The kit for the men’s and women’s Giri was muted, in a break from the bold design EF were known for. The pink was replaced by a deep blue, with coloured circles splattering the jersey.
“The new design, executed through creative coding and image/pattern manipulation, is a modern interpretation of the Argyle pattern that has been a staple part of EF’s visual language for years,” Rapha said.
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2022 was also a big year for the Tour de France, as the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift had its first edition. To mark the occasion, EF produced this fun kit with Palace again, which was also worn in the men’s Tour. Accompanied by specially designed Cannondales, POC helmets and Crocs for off-bike wear, the kit made quite the splash at the races.
106th Giro d’Italia 2023 – Stage 14
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The panelled design of the 2023 kit calls back to the Mondrian-inspired La Vie Claire kit from 1984. It too was iconic in its simplicity, but the kit from Rapha was unprecedented, too.
72% of the kit was made from excess material. The jersey itself was composed of several different pieces of material, all individually coloured, with sponsor’s logos printed over the top. The spin-off collection of fan-kit sold after the race was made entirely from excess material, but the pro kit, bound by rules forbidding discrepancies in team kit, was unable to be made entirely from excess material.
107th Giro d’Italia 2024, Stage 13
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If the 2020 Palace kit was the most out-there kits of all time, then perhaps this 2024 kit marked EF Education’s most understated year yet. With a black jersey ribboned in the hot-pink of EF Education, Rapha claimed that the kit celebrated “the nation that is home to these beautiful, brutal races.”
But emblazoned on the jersey in pink and yellow were snippets of Italian: Vai (go), In Bocca al Lupo (good luck) and – these need no translation – PIZZA! PASTA! SCALA! FASTA!
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There was to be one final Giro special kit, 2025’s ‘white diamonds’ effort. It had a white base with a diamond pattern and all-pink logos. According to Rapha, the look was “created for EF Pro Cycling to shine brighter and fly faster at the world’s most beautiful grand tour”. It wasn’t as loud as some previous designs, but it was pretty.
Rapha – thank you for the good times, your designs will be missed.
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