‘If there are unfavorable responses, at the least we’ve stayed true to what we do’ – Maap makes WorldTour debut with sponsorship of Jayco AlUla and Liv AlUla Jayco

Melbourne-based biking attire model Maap has as we speak introduced a multi-year sponsorship deal of Australian WorldTour groups Jayco-AlUla and Liv-AlUla-Jayco, in addition to the ladies’s Liv-AlUla-Jayco Continental group. 

Visually the brand new group equipment, widespread throughout each males’s and ladies’s groups save for sponsor logos, is a departure from the norm for the WorldTour. But quite than the purple and deep blue jerseys, it’s seemingly the sunshine gray of the shorts right here that may flip heads initially. Outside of the world champion and nationwide champions’ occasional use of white shorts, black could be very a lot the usual possibility within the professional peloton. AG2R La Mondiale created a sure cult following round their brown shorts in recent times (this author being a giant fan), however have since returned to black. 

Alé, the group’s former clothes sponsor, will stay within the Men’s WorldTour on the backs of the riders of Team Bahrain Victorious and Groupama-FDJ.

The colors of the jerseys are based mostly on issues as different because the Aurora Australis – the Southern Lights, a phenomenon mirroring these seen in northern latitudes however within the Australian Outback – the sunsets seen on the Saudi Arabian City of AlUla, and the shifting types of desert sands. The gentle gray, or ‘Shadow’ to make use of the model’s terminology, is to “communicate to MAAP’s pursuit of change and reluctance to comply with tendencies.”

When pressed in regards to the potential reception from rival groups in a sport so steeped in custom, Oliver Cousins, Maap’s co-founder stated:

“It’s one thing you’d anticipate to see from us if we had been getting into the WorldTour… If there are unfavorable responses, at the least we’ve stayed true to what we do and we’re actually backing it.”

The Shadow color shorts are a staple inside the shopper line of Maap merchandise already, with the model exercising some technique to tie the professional equipment into the consumer-facing ranges that we haven’t seen for the reason that Rapha sponsorship of Team Sky. 

Speaking to Maap upfront of the launch it was clear that the model had focused the GreenEDGE group for a while, partially because of the Australian connection however extra just lately as a result of the group allowed the model a excessive diploma of inventive management, one thing which Cyclingnews understands different groups had been much less prepared to relinquish.

Of the partnership, Maap’s co-founder Jarrad Smith stated:

“Since founding MAAP a decade in the past, partnering with GreenEDGE has been a long-held dream of ours. We are so proud to be on this place and purpose to do all the pieces we are able to to allow each the boys’s and ladies’s groups to understand their full potential race after race whereas additionally serving to encourage a complete new era of riders coming into the game.”

When a model makes the bounce right into a WorldTour sponsorship spot we frequently see a shift in focus in the direction of extra performance-oriented clothes within the model’s shopper merchandise too. This was very evident with Rapha following its sponsorship of Team Sky and latterly EF Education. When requested whether or not it’d needed to develop new merchandise particularly for the groups, or if the prevailing suite of clothes can be used initially, Cousins stated:

“Generally many of the product has been designed particularly for the group. There’s in all probability solely a handful of kinds that translate precisely throughout, even with some modifications. Plenty of focus has gone into the highway go well with, the light-weight highway go well with, and the TT go well with, which will probably be what they race in, with bibs and jerseys extra used only for coaching”.

Given the recognition of the model, Cousins was clear that a few of these new clothes can be filtering into the buyer traces in the end:

“For us, this has been lengthy overdue. We’re launching a race jersey, a light-weight aero jersey, and we are going to launch the group variations of these skinsuits with minor modifications. It’s been a push to get the manufacturing unit commercialising these collections for 2025.”