When it came to redesigning the Malliot Juane for the 100th running of the Tour de France, new jersey sponsor Le Coq Sportif is looking to the past for its styling cues. Drawing inspiration from Le Coq Sportif’s 1951 leader’s jersey, the addition of a pointed collar is made – though an actual collar would be too much drag for the leaders so a false collar was used instead. Fortunately for the potential leaders, Le Coq chose to omit the original wo button front pockets.
Cast in brighter yellow than previous years, a sublimated Moor’s head is featured on the center of the jersey – which pays tribute to this year’s host of the Grand Depart on June 29th, Corsica’s first. Further linking to the past the founder of the Tour De France, Henri Desgrange, will have his initials printed on the jersey with a reflective passage printed on the jersey that will read, “En 1903, Henri Desgrange créait le plus grand évènement sportif de tous les temps” which translates to “In 1903, Henri Desgrange created the greatest sporting event of all time”. All of the reflective bits on the jersey are due to the fact that the grand finish will for the first time, happen at night.
In order to make the rest of the jersey as modern as possible, 131 year old Le Coq Sportif called on their technical apparel expertise and built the jersey with a 3/4 zip, and two vent panels in the rear with 3D mesh at the base micro-mesh across the back to ensure that the one in yellow doesn’t cook on hot days.
What did the leader’s jersey look like in 1951? See it, next.
