The Tour de France is set to kick off next week and Rapha, EF Education & Cannondale are celebrating in another style collaboration with Palace Skateboards. But this year, with the launch of the 8-day Tour de France Femmes (and the biggest prize payout in women’s cycling), both the men and women will be riding in Rapha + Palace Tour de Force switch-out kit and custom-painted Cannondale race bikes emblazoned with the female gender symbol on top of playful graphics.
UPDATE: Scroll to the bottom of the Rapha bit for their ride & off-the-bike kit availability…
And besides the Rapha replica kit, you can also pick up a Rapha + Palace TdF Cannondale SuperSix, too!
Rapha+Palace custom Tour de France, Femmes & Force!
For the first time in 33 years, pro women cycling will get its own proper stage race with the 8-stage Tour de France Femme which takes on the iconic Champs-Élysée the day after the men’s final, then ultimately marching east 1029km from Paris to the mountains to culminate in a summit finish at La Planche des Belles Filles on the final day of July.
To emphasize the importance of the women getting a proper French stage race, the EF men will start 3 weeks earlier from July 1st in the same kit as the women, and the same custom-painted bikes, with a Rapha+Palace Skateboard design with a prominent women’s gender symbol and a bunch of playful little yellow dragons.
Rapha+Palace Skateboards EF Education Tour kit
In addition to flashy bikes, Rapha is making the riders’ custom kit available soon too. Women can get the Pro Team Aero Jersey and Pro Team Bib Shorts II in the full Rapha+Palace EF Education-Tibco-SVB pink, blue & yellow dragon design, or a more low-key gray Pro Team Training Jersey.
Men get the same choices in Pro Team Aero Jersey and Pro Team Bib Shorts II in the same pink, blue & yellow dragon design with the men’s team Rapha+Palace EF Education-Easypost sponsor logos, or the low-key gray Pro Team Training Jersey.
Less over-the-top style (and pricing) options include a Rapha+Palace EF cotton cycling cap, white Rapha+Palace EF edition synthetic Pro Team socks, or a cotton Rapha+Palace EF musette.
No official word on pricing or availability yet, but we expect it to hit the online shop in time for fans to be decked out before the Tours’ finishes. RCC members will get a first shot at it though.
Update: The new Rapha + Palace kit officially goes on sale July 15 at 11:00 BST for the UK, EU, Canada & South Korea; later the same day July at 11:00 EDT for the USA; and lastly the next day July 16 at 11:00 JST for the Asia-Pacific market.
In addition to the team riding kit, there will be Rapha + Palace Crocs, cropped tops, technical skirts, technical shirts, technical shorts, and much more including a silk scarf and some cotton tees with that cute little cartoon dragon. It’s all kinda wild really, but quite interesting at the same time…
EF Education Tour de Force custom Cannondales
Both the EF Education-EasyPost men and EF Education-TIBCO-SVB women will complete their Tours de France on a fleet of three Cannondale race bikes in matching limited edition Rapha+Palace paint jobs: the lightweight road SuperSix Evo, the aero road SystemSix, and the time trial SuperSlice.
Of those, only the SuperSix will be available to consumers. You can get your own Rapha+Palace TdF custom Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-mod carbon frameset direct from Rapha (soon), just like the pros ride.
Although, maybe it’s not exactly the one the pros ride? Last December Cannondale received UCI approval to compete on a new SuperSix Evo 3 Limited Edition. From the outside the team bikes look the same, so we would have to assume it’s just some superlight, extra-stiff carbon layup inside, right?
You can’t get the special edition Cannondale SystemSix race bikes.
But they still are worth a closer look.
There’s a bit more surface area for silly graphics on an aero road bike.
Then, the Cannondale SuperSlice Evo takes it to the next level.
This disc brake SuperSlice (Evo?) appears to technically still be a prototype. But we’ve spotted it racing for over a year now, so it’s curious how that fits within the UCI’s technical rules.
In any case, it’s a nice big flashy canvas for the Rapha+Palace Skateboards custom look.
