The Tour de France Has Made Everyone Angry About a Jersey (Again)

When the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes revealed their new-look leaders’ jerseys last week, one color caught everybody’s eye.

Purple.

Purple!?

On the “white” jersey!?

Who signed that off?!?

The iconic white jersey of “best young rider,” last won by Isaac del Toro and Antonia Niedermaier, will get a facelift in 2027.

The typically pearly maillot has been embellished – or some may say, ruined – by an “ultraviolet” purple trim in a nod to the new jersey sponsor, Sanofi. The Paris-based biopharma company has made the lurid purple its “thing,” apparently.

The introduction of “ultraviolet” into the Tour de France palette has become a serious talking point in a cycling world without racing to argue about.

Purple bits are being debated with equal intensity to the 71km of time trialing in the men’s race and a crowning climb – the Puy de Dôme – at the Femmes that might be closed off to crowds.

“A hater has spent years infiltrating ASO and is now taking revenge by ruining one iconic jersey at a time,” is the brilliant title of one Reddit thread on the topic.

Calls of “fashion crimes,” “a Jayco away kit,” and vomit memes are doing the rounds on Twitter / X.

To be fair, not even the mustachioed model looks too impressed in the official marketing shot.

The Tour hasn’t seen this much confab over clothing since … since the last time race organizer ASO made everyone angry with its leader’s apparel.

In 2023, the vert points jersey turned from lime to forest green at the behest of jersey sponsor Škoda.

Couch Peloton has been in protest ever since.

Castelli returns to the Tour de France

The new maillot blanc of “best young rider” isn’t the only Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes leader’s jersey that will be relaunched next season.

Last week at the official route reveals, ASO revealed tweaked versions of all four of its iconic classification leaders’ jerseys.

The historic yellow, green, polka dot, and white tops have all gotten a refresh for 2027 courtesy of ASO’s new clothing supplier, Castelli.

The Italian brand returns to the Tour for the first time in more than 30 years in 2027. Santini had done the honors since 2022.

Castelli also takes charge of the sewing machine for the ASO-owned Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Nice, Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and Vuelta a España.

But fear not, traditionalists.

The Tour de France jersey polemica is isolated to just the purple-on-white maillot blanc.

The maillots jaune, verte and à pois haven’t been messed with enough to catch public ire.

In a recent statement, Castelli brand manager Steve Smith paid tribute to the heft of the Tour’s classification jerseys.

“Producing the maillot jaune represents the highest possible honor. We wanted these jerseys to be truly special. That is why every micro-detail stems from our deep reverence for what they represent to the sport and the riders who earn them,” Smith said.

“Beyond pushing performance and aerodynamics, every single feature was crafted to honor that legacy.”

Some may argue purple is not a part of the Tour de France white jersey legacy.

Sanofi will happily argue otherwise.