Why is Mark Cavendish's National Champion Jersey Red, White and Blue?

[MattTuck]

It looks more like a Netherlands flag than any national symbol from either the UK or England that I've seen. Am I missing something?

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/webimage/1.5811542.1372608318!/image/4190535852.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_595/4190535852.jpg

[FlashUNC]

It's very bizarre. Would the Union Jack have been that much trouble?

[victoryfactory]

...there is more flag related politics here than you can shake a stick at.
The tri color stripe was the best they could come up with I guess.

England
Scotland
Isle of Mann
Gibraltar
Wales
Jersey



VF

[christian]

It's looked that way for as long as I've been alive. Here's Boardman at some point in the distant past. Perhaps the British are more squeamish about wearing flags as apparel than American airline pilots are?

http://spinwell.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/6770938647_3a6153f302_z1.jpg?w=450&h=600

[christian]

Perhaps the most dominant British cyclist ever:

http://cyclingweekly.ipcshop.co.uk/images/CustomImages/9518_Racing-Is-Life-DVD.jpg

[4Rings6Stars]

Perhaps the most dominant British cyclist ever:

http://cyclingweekly.ipcshop.co.uk/images/CustomImages/9518_Racing-Is-Life-DVD.jpg

Look at that slammed ste..errr I mean seatpost!

Oh how things have changed...

[FlashUNC]

This is an eye crime for its own reasons, but at least it hints at being more recognizable as UK...

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/resources/images/1961717.jpg?type=articleLandscape

[christian]

There's a difference between National team jerseys and National Championship jerseys. National Championship jerseys should adhere to the classic style.

This gumo print gets it right:

http://img1.etsystatic.com/013/0/6179221/il_fullxfull.442778617_fs5s.jpg

(Though amusingly, they get the GBR jersey wrong!)

[MattTuck]

That print is very cool.

The Swiss jersey is probably my favorite... Cancellara soloing to victory in it has to be one of the most iconic images in modern classics racing.


I did not realize that the stripes were so ingrained. When I saw it, it just made me think of Netherlands and France. I agree that the UK has a really complicated flag relationship with all of the parts... guess it is better to stick with tradition than come up with something new. Although, the Union Jack is pretty iconic.

[acorn_user]

I agree with the other comments. It's traditional to use the red white and blue stripes, and it goes back a long way. I can't think of a team that has done it any other way, although I would love to see what they came up with, if anyone knows of one :)

[shovelhd]

All that matters is what is on the sleeves.

[Jaq]

All that matters is what is on the sleeves.

And, occasionally, in the legs.

[Lovetoclimb]

I like how they go entire skinsuit in their flags livery! A Union Jack skinsuit would be pretty neat too . . .

[shovelhd]

One in the same.

[bikingshearer]

There's a difference between National team jerseys and National Championship jerseys. National Championship jerseys should adhere to the classic style.

This gumo print gets it right:

http://img1.etsystatic.com/013/0/6179221/il_fullxfull.442778617_fs5s.jpg

(Though amusingly, they get the GBR jersey wrong!)

Except that most of those aren't national champ jerseys. The US one is a champ's jersey, not a team jersey. There are a pair of German champion's jeresys (white with the black-yellow-red stripes). That may be the Canadian champion's jersey with the red maple leaf on the lightish blue, but it may be a Canadian national team jersey, and I am embarassed to say I don't know for sure - sorry, friends to the north. I've seen the Swiss white-cross-on-red as both a national team jersey and a champ's jersey, so who knows what they do or think.

I see national team jerseys for Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, and France, but none of their National Champ jerseys. I see neither the Italian tricolore champ's jersey nor the "squadra azurra" national team jersey.

Cool print, but a tad inconsistent.

And yes, I very much prefer the traditional national team looks and especially the national champs' jerseys. There is nothing cooler than the traditional Belgian national champion's jersey with the three blocks of black, yellow and red.

[/pedantic rant]

[Salsa_Lover]

There's a difference between National team jerseys and National Championship jerseys. National Championship jerseys should adhere to the classic style.

This gumo print gets it right:

http://img1.etsystatic.com/013/0/6179221/il_fullxfull.442778617_fs5s.jpg

(Though amusingly, they get the GBR jersey wrong!)

Those are not national champions but the national teams, notice the classic belgian blue and Netherlands orange that you would not see on the national champions