As road racing hits its usual pause for the winter months and our Twitter feeds have gone quiet with racing drama and updates, you can always rely on new WorldTour team kits to stir the pot a little. It might be because a team has made literally no effort at all to upgrade their kit, or because others have had a design refresh that puts them in contention for the most fashionable squad in the WorldTour, but either way, it adds some excitement to these drab winter months.
So far, we’ve seen the notoriously stylish Trek-Segafredo give both their men’s and women’s team kits a snazzy upgrade – nothing too crazy, they’re following the same colour palette – but there are a few details thrown in there that makes this kit a little sharper for 2023. The team of Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates, has simplified its 2023 outfit to have a completely white and black base colour, while Bahrain-Victorious has kept things pretty similar too for 2023, just adding a few, subtle details to spice things up.
Perhaps the biggest kit revamp so far has come from the unassuming Israel-Premier Tech and Israel-Premier Tech-Roland men’s and women’s squads. Gone is the plain white and blue design, say hello to a tie-dyed fusion of pink, white and navy. Groupama-FDJ are also in the running for the hottest new kit so far, with a simple, unique, colour-blocked jersey. The Ineos Grenadiers are in contention too, moving away from the blue jersey seen in 2022 to a fierce brigade red for next year. Astana, AG2R Citroën Team and newly-named Team Jayco AlUla currently sit at the bottom of our list, either due to a complete lack of effort to reinvent or just general bad taste.
Vote for your favourite WorldTour jersey of 2022
If you’re looking to get ahead of the game and bolster your kit knowledge before the WorldTour pelotons start firing on all cylinders again, here’s the full list of WorldTour team kits announced so far. We’ll be updating (and rating) each new kit design as it is released in due course…
Trek-Segafredo
Image: Trek Segafredo
Business in the front, party in the back? It’s top marks from us for Trek-Segafredo as they inject some serious snazziness into their 2023 kit with an asymmetrical pattern on the rear of both the men’s and women’s jerseys. At the front, they have kept it suitably simple with a white base colour, but the attention to detail on the back of the jersey will make the team easy to spot from those overhead helicopter shots in 2023. Those with a keen eye would have spotted that the band on the front of the women’s jersey is a slightly darker shade of blue than seen on the 2022 kit, but the change is nothing dramatic. Trek-Segafredo have got just the right amount of exciting upgrades while keeping their own unique identity in the peloton.
Ineos Grenadiers
Image: Ineos Grenadiers
The Ineos Grenadiers call their new kit "visibly fast" and we're not sure if that claim is quite true, or even possible, but we can agree that this is quite a nice outfit for 2023. In a move away from the navy they donned in 2022, the new jersey is described as a "brigade red" colour with flashes of orange and blue on both sleeves. Ineos says that these bright colours will enhance visibility of the riders out on the road, as well as being a statement of intent about the way the team plans to race in 2023. The team also lists a whole host of technological innovations about this kit in its press release, but honestly, we're just here for the style – top marks to the Ineos Grenadiers.
UAE Team Emirates
Image: UAE Team Emirates
From a pure design perspective, we’ve never been a huge fan of UAE Team Emirates’ kit, but we’ve been quite sold on it while watching Tadej Pogačar as he rides away from the peloton in the Tour or the Classics. Who doesn’t want to look like that on a bicycle? For 2023, the kit is a little bit more palatable than year’s previous, with the team opting to get rid of the red fade on the sleeve and move to a more traditional black colour. In general, the jersey is a little less busy, and definitely has a sharper look. It seems like UAE Team Emirates is taking the ‘less is more’ approach, and we’re not mad about it.
Israel-Premier Tech/Israel-Premier Tech-Roland
Image: Israel-Premier Tech
Well, hello there. Ok, we know the men's team is not going to be WorldTour in 2023 as they are relegated to ProTeam status but as it stands, Israel-Premier Tech have put themselves firmly on the top of our podium of 2023 team kits. In fact, they’re a good couple of strides ahead of any competitors with this striking, colourful number. The dark royal blue on the left shoulder fades perfectly into a smattering of white, purple and dark pink creating an eye-catching design that’s quite unlike anything we’ve seen on team kits in the past. The newly formed Israel-Premier Tech-Roland women’s WorldTour team shares a stunningly similar design with the men’s squad, signifying that the two outfits could be working closely together in 2023.
AG2R Citroën Team
Image: AG2R Citroën Team
Yawn… no change from AG2R Citroën Team for 2023 for the second year in a row. This French team has a bit of a habit of keeping the same kit design year on year, but we’d ascertain this jersey is nice enough to remain on the shoulders of the likes of Greg Van Avermaet and Lawrence Naesen into 2023. Plus, it should mean that last year’s kit can be reused by the team (into the laundry rather than landfill.) AG2R Citroën Team have been given some fancy-looking, brightly coloured BMC bikes, so we can make do with drooling over those beauties next year.
Soudal-Quick-Step
Image: Quick Step/Alpha Vinyl/Wout Beel
Could be better, could be worse. The new Soudal Quick-Step kit is largely inoffensive, it keeps the team’s classic blue and white colour combo but leans far more on the blue side, with only one chunk of white in the centre of the jersey and on the sleeves. Sponsor Soudal gets prime real estate slap bang in the middle of the chest, getting its money’s worth for that title sponsorship in 2023. Quick-Step remains, too, of course, the team’s long-standing loyal supporter. A special mention has to also go to Remco Evenepoel’s new world champion jersey: the young Belgian has kept it classic and timeless (although he hasn’t gone for white shorts to match, yet…)
Groupama-FDJ
Image: Groupama-FDJ
Uh oh, we’re starting to see a pattern of navy kit designs emerging as Groupama-FDJ is the latest to add itself to the list of teams that will sport blue hues in 2023. Still, we don't have much criticism for this jersey: the colour blocking on the front is simple and striking, and a far cry from FDJ’s previous jersey iterations which can end up looking a little busy. The minimal sponsors on the front is an improvement, and helps add a sleek and classy look to the garment. We’d be happy to wear it, but we wouldn’t be so happy if we were in the job of cycling commentary next year; it’s going to be hard to distinguish this kit through a sea of navy in 2023.
Astana Qazaqstan
Image: Astana Qazaqstan
Same old, same old for Astana. The team has stuck with its striking aquamarine, fade into navy for 2023, with the same diamond-shaped patterning across the front of the kit. The Astana Qazaqstan logo sits front and centre once more, adding a flash of yellow to the otherwise quite plain kit. The Astana jersey design doesn’t offend us, but we always hope for a little more pizzazz.
UAE Team ADQ
Image: UAE Team ADQ
The UAE Team ADQ kit designers are clearly a fan of the blue and orange combination, as they’ve stuck with a similar colour palette for 2023. It’s not exactly the same, though, with a much larger portion of the jersey taking on a lilac colour and the bottom area a more subtle shade of pink, rather than last year’s orange. Some slightly random patterning has been added underneath the arms of both sleeves, too and we’re not quite sure why, but we’re not ones to complain about a bit of jazzy detailing on a team kit. The shorts are left plain black too which we like, it ensures that the kit as a whole isn’t too loud, just about…
Bahrain-Victorious
Image: Bahrain-Victorious
At first glance, there’s nothing strikingly different about the Bahrain-Victorious kit for 2023, but on closer inspection, there are a couple of changes that have actually improved the overall look quite dramatically. More black has been added to the bottom diamond shapes in the bottom half of the kit, as well as some yellow stripes which give the whole thing a sort of futuristic and 3D-look. Other than that, Bahrain-Victorious will stay pretty recognisable in the peloton with their orangey kit which we can expect to be ripping it up at the front of the classics early in the year.
Team Jumbo-Visma
Image: Jumbo Visma
At first glance, it may appear that Jumbo-Visma have stuck firmly in the camp of making no effort at all to change their kit for the 2023 season. However, the Dutch team have actually impressed us with some serious attention to detail in next season’s jersey. While they’ve retained the classic yellow and black which has been worn to so many victories, kit designers have added a slither of patterning in between the two colours which references the different kits worn in years previous by the team (blue for Blanco Pro Cycling team, green for Belkin, you get the picture.) Pretty neat, Jumbo, we like it.
Fenix-Deceuninck
Image: Fenix-Deceuninck
While we are very excited about the addition of this team to the women’s WorldTour peloton for the 2023 season, Fenix-Deceuninck’s kit falls a little on the drab side. The plain navy blue base and white lettering could do with a pattern or bright colour to make it stand out. However, when a team is dishing out four-year contracts in the women's WorldTour and has an aim of bringing complete equality across its men’s and women’s WorldTour squads, we can forgive the slight lack of imagination when it comes to jersey designs.
Team Jayco AlUla
Image: Team Jayco AlUla
A new title sponsor for 2023, Saudi Arabian city AlUla, meant a kit redesign was a necessity for both the men’s and women’s newly-named Jayco AlUla WorldTour teams. However, despite some controversy over the team’s pink and blue colour scheme last year (pink for the women’s team and blue for the men’s, really?), the designers have chosen to stick with this for another season, yay… It’s a pretty unimaginative look and could do with a rethink or at least some additional detailing to make the team stand out in 2023. Sorry Team Jayco AlUla, but you sit right down at the bottom of our favourite team kits list this year.
FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope
If you thought that the kit designers had done a good job on the men’s FDJ kit, they’ve gone one step further with the women’s team jersey. While it keeps the navy and red core colours which we saw on the top step of the podium in many women’s WorldTour races in 2022, designers have removed the white panelling from the sleeves to create a dramatic ombre fade. It’s only a subtle change from last year’s kit, but it has made a big difference to the overall look. Top marks from us.
Movistar
Image: Movistar
True to their team slogan #RodamosJuntos (we ride together) and their longstanding commitment to making the men’s and women’s squads one team, rather than two separate projects, both Movistar WorldTour teams will share the same kit design again in 2023. Now made by Gobik, the jersey is a darker blue than last year, with a lighter fade on the sleeves and collar. White logos finish off the look, and we also are fans of the blue band on the bottom of the shorts to tie the whole thing together. Annemiek van Vleuten’s world champion’s kit has been done well too, striking and classic with the rainbow bands standing out proudly on the white jersey.
Team Arkéa Samsic
Image: Team Arkéa Samsic
As the men’s squad steps up to WorldTour level in 2023, it was only right that the Team Arkéa Samsic jersey design had a refresh too, representing the team’s new chapter in the highest ranks of professional cycling. The base colour is a simple, striking red with a Triskell pattern overlaid: a strong symbol of Celtic culture and an ode to the team’s Breton roots. 2023 also sees a dash of Bianchi’s signature celeste green on the jersey’s sleeves as the bike sponsor of Team Arkéa Samsic for the season ahead. We appreciate the thought and history in this design and give big points to Arkéa Samsic for creating a jersey with a story.
BORA-hansgrohe
Image: BORA-hansgrohe
This was one of our favourite 2022 team kits and we’re somewhat relieved to see no huge changes to the outfit for 2023. There’s some subtle differences with a switch out of the white patterning for black, but outwardly, the BORA-hansgrohe kit looks quite similar to last year’s version. Kit manufacturers Le Col say that there are big changes to the aerodynamic qualities of the jersey with strategically placed tripping panels and seam layout to increase and smooth the airflow, while also minimising drag. We cannot confirm nor deny these claims, but we can give our opinion that this is one nice looking kit.
Human Powered Health
Image: Human Powered Health
It’s only the women’s team that will be on WorldTour level in 2023 but both the men’s and women’s squads will proudly share the same Human Powered Health jersey in 2023. Unlike other teams, Human Powered Health has put some serious thought into its 2023 design and that’s something we can appreciate. The American squad says that its ‘core principles’ of movement, fuel, recovery and mindset are reflected in the kit’s rich colour scheme. A series of geometric lines on the front of the kit are also said to display the team’s ‘drawing board’ approach as they work towards better living. As the saying goes: you can have anything you want in life if you dress for it…
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
Image: Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
The Tweet accompanying Intermarché-Circus-Wanty’s new kit drop said “You like it or you will learn to like it” and we can kind of see what they’re getting at. The neon yellow shoulders and strange swirling navy pattern at the bottom of the jersey is definitely unique and won’t be for everyone, nor will the tightly packed logos of 18 sponsors. However, put Taco van der Hoorn in a breakaway and watch him take a solo victory against all odds in a stage of a grand tour and, well, we can’t help but become fans of the mishmash Intermarché outfit.
Cofidis
Image: Mathilde L'Azou/Cofidis
Men’s WorldTour team Cofidis shook up its kit for the 2022 season after a couple of years of keeping things the same and they’ve continued to develop their kit design for 2023. Gone is the large white panel across the sleeves and shoulders, and instead the jersey features a red base with darker burgundy geometric shapes. The Cofidis women’s team, which remains at Continental level for 2023, also will sport the same jersey design as the men’s WorldTour squad. Overall, we’d say that this jersey is an improvement from last year's for the French team, it’s classy, unique and vibrant.
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
Image: Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
In a bid to reduce consumption and cut their overall clothing order for 2023, Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (who have a women's WorldTour team and men's ProTeam) has stuck with the same design for the upcoming season. They also note that this makes it easier for fans to continue to recognise the team right from the beginning of the year, which actually does make quite a lot of sense, it doesn’t give us much to write about for this article, though… We liked Uno-X’s kit in 2022, and we’ll keep liking it for 2023.
Team SD Worx
Image: Getty
Bold, bright, beautiful. We’re big fans of this kit from the number one ranked Women’s WorldTour team. It’s similar to last year’s attire, but kit designers have heavily upped the colour saturation to create a jersey which stands out from the crowd. The strip of purple along the front of the kit matches well with what looks like navy blue bib shorts, while minimal sponsor logos ensure that the design isn’t too busy. The logo of payroll and workforce management company SD Worx has actually been integrated into the patterning of the kit with the star shaped block on the lower part of the jersey, which we think is much more inventive than just slapping a bigger logo on (other teams, take note.)
EF Education Tibco-SVB and EF Education EasyPost
Image: Gruber
Image: Chris Milliman
Anticipation over the kit that Rapha will make for the EF Education women’s and men’s WorldTour teams is always high year on year. Although the men’s jersey was leaked a few weeks before the actual release date due to a cheeky Instagram story, we were still excited to see the big reveal. Surprisingly, the kit actually appears to be a more stripped back version of last year’s. Designers have gone for simple, pink colour blocks which they say represents the past, present and future of the teams. For the first time, the men’s and women’s kits are exactly the same apart from sponsor logos and we’re big fans of this simple but striking jersey. Congratulations, Rapha, you’ve done a stellar job again.
Team DSM
Another year, another chunk of the budget saved for Team DSM on a new jersey design. The Dutch team sticks to its simple two blue stripes down the front and back of the kit with a black base colour and the DSM logo loud and proud, front and centre. We're fans of the simplicity of Team DSM's kit and the design is memorable while standing out from the crowd. We can also forgive a slightly duller team kit considering the snazzy glitter colourway on Team DSM's Scott bike.
