Why amateur cyclists no longer dress like the pros

Sharp as a knife (1.78 m, 60 kg), he can still pass for a pro rider in his Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale size S outfit. Antoine is enjoying himself, as a young forty-something, his hair a little white, but with a proud appearance. Since his "debut" in 1995, this rider from Bouches-du-Rhône, a professional painter, has always worn the jersey of professional teams for his Sunday outings and cyclosportives.

Banesto (like Miguel Indurain, the hero of his 11 years), Domina Vacanze (the zebra-striped clothing of the handsome Mario Cipollini, his role model in his early twenties), Gerolsteiner blue (to identify with Davide Rebellin), and then the AG2R-La Mondiale tunic and its successive variations, adopted in 2006, without infidelity since.

Antoine doesn't deny it: he defies time and trends. He's well aware that he's the only one in this getup on the roads of his department and at the start of the Corima Drôme Provençale or the Gran Fondo Col de la Loze. Retro in his own way. Offbeat. Thirty years ago, the pro jersey was a must-have.

The dress code of the practitioner, even licensed, quick to discreetly swap, during his solitary training sessions, the horrible jersey of his village club for the shining suit of the Giants of the Road. You only have to dig up the old photos of L'Étape du Tour -Vélo Magazine , to mass cycling what the Paris marathon is to running, to count the competitors dressed in Carrera Jeans-Tassoni, Castorama, Mapei-GB or even Once.

Antoine and his son Gabriel. (C. Gaby/L'Équipe)

No one felt like they were in disguise back then. Just enjoying themselves without taking themselves seriously, or for anyone else. People easily got their supplies from the local bike shop, or from the Decathlon cycle section, which was flooded with Nalini, the Italian fashion designer, supplier to the main teams of the time. And even in hypermarkets like Auchan, between the delicatessen and fruit and vegetable sections.

At the turn of the century, the pro jersey gradually became increasingly rare on the shoulders of the "pinpins". Until it almost disappeared completely. A matter of fashion, first of all. The 2025 trend is minimalist. Zero inscriptions, one color. " Today's cyclists dress very soberly ," describes Jean-Philippe Amprino, owner since 1996 of the very busy Cycles et Sports in Bourg-d'Oisans (Isère), one of the last stores to offer team jerseys and to have a large stock.

"Today's public, inundated with advertising in everyday life, saturated with brands, is looking for a plain outfit, without writing, without gradients, one color. A universal fit. Gone are the days when Jalabert and Virenque encouraged cyclists to ride Once or Festina."

"Sand tones, lime green, and wine lees work well with 25-35 year-olds who often ride as a couple. The clientele for team jerseys is older, often in their fifties... " 25 years ago, two-thirds of Amprino's turnover came from professional jerseys and one-third from neutral textiles. " Today, it's exactly the opposite ," sighs the shopkeeper, who has had to adapt.

Former cyclist Hubert Dupont, now a product manager for the materiel-velo.com brand, makes a similar observation. "I sell professional jerseys only online. I don't offer them in our fourteen points of sale, except for a little Soudal Quick-Step in the one in Bondues (Nord), due to its proximity to Belgium (a cycling hotspot) . Customers from other regions aren't interested. Tudor? Maybe it would work a little, thanks to the Julian Alaphilippe effect. Ordering UAE or Movistar jerseys off the shelves for declining sales isn't worth it. " *

Former racer and now product manager Hubert Dupont. (A. Martin/L'Équipe)

In fact, volumes are very low. Over the course of a year, Dupont estimates that between ten and fifteen copies of the Soudal Quick-Step or UAE jersey are sold. " And I'm talking about the replica model (as its name suggests, a less sophisticated, more affordable consumer version). The 'aero' version (fitted to the body, cut identical to the pros', more expensive, around 150 euros) is even less successful." Antoine, the demanding cyclist from the south, is having more and more trouble finding his Decathlon-AG2R all-aero kit. " I go through an Australian site that buys up stock at the end of the season. In France, cyclingcollector is pretty good too. I also keep an eye on Vinted... "

While teams (not all of them) strive to offer "official store"-branded items online, the sales curve doesn't reach the altitude of the Tourmalet, but rather that of a category 4 hill. " Obviously, we can't compare it to the craze for football jerseys," concedes Florent Poleyn, head of sponsorship at Cofidis. "There isn't that attachment of the supporter to a city, and the cycling jersey can't be worn like civilian clothing. That's a first limitation. Then, today's public, inundated with advertising in everyday life, saturated with brands, is looking for a plain outfit, without writing, no gradients, one color. Something that goes with everything. Gone are the days when Jalabert and Virenque encouraged cyclists to ride in Once or Festina. "

However, Cofidis is not doing too badly: Poleyn claims " several hundred" units are sold annually through the store: " we even had a small peak when Victor Lafay won a stage of the Tour. " But the habit is set. " Look at a manufacturer like Ekoï ," continues Florent Poleyn. "It supplies Israel-Premier Tech and Arkea-B&B Hôtels, but on the site, these products are not highlighted. "

Indeed, there's no trace of Michael Woods' or Arnaud Démare's shirts in the "men's summer outfits" interface; you have to click on the discreet "sponsorship" tab for a reference to the prestigious partnerships, whose items are unavailable. It's also very complicated to buy an EF Education First from the English company Rapha. Translation: cycle model makers use the world of professionals as a showcase, a guarantee of the excellence of their clothing, to sell other collections to practitioners whose mentality has evolved.

Are the days of jerseys glorifying idols over? (J. M Pochat / L'Équipe)

Practitioners not necessarily inclined to play the sandwich board for nothing, free publicity for sponsors whose activities don't reflect their values. Because a realization has dawned: cycling's financiers don't wash their books any whiter than white. One can legitimately be wary of promoting an oil group, a credit institution, a national lottery, or states where human rights remain a vague concept.

Frédéric, 40, a resident of the Jura region, has worn out his fluorescent yellow Tinkoff jersey from the 2015 season, which is now in storage. " I admire Alberto Contador, much less the Russian oligarch Oleg Tinkov, the team boss. Given the current situation, I'm refraining from riding in that. I've switched to a plain jersey. "

Aside from the need to dress like a top dog when you're barely averaging over 20 km/h (there's always a member of the team-without-anything-in-writing to make fun of you at a crossroads; cyclists aren't always known for their tolerance), wearing a pro jersey can lead to misunderstandings. Even hostility. Last year, at the summit of Mont Ventoux, we saw a cyclist receive disapproving looks. He was wearing the Israel-Premier Tech jersey, probably because he found it attractive, because he likes Chris Froome, and after all, that's his right.

From his vantage point as an observer, Jean-Philippe Amprino doesn't believe in a return to the team jersey, nor in its complete disappearance. " It's certain, we won't go back. But it will remain stable. " His best scores: 1) UAE (around 100 per year). 2) Soudal Quick-Step. 3) Groupama-FDJ. And he offers one final reason for the disenchantment with these often garish and over-the-top lycra fabrics that have sustained him: immense technical progress.

" In the past, you also bought a pro jersey for its quality; the rest of the production was pretty low-end. Today, this quality extends to all cycling textiles. " Even the awful club jerseys mentioned above, studded with small sponsors and poorly cut as possible, have gained in design and aerodynamics. The juniors don the VC Thor Gardagne chest protector without blushing; Gabriel dresses like his friends, but only in competition. The rest of the time, he does like his dad Antoine, the painter from Bouches-du-Rhône: Decathlon-AG2R, in double XS. Gabriel is 12 years old. The perfect age to play Benoît Cosnefroy.