Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
The pink and purple combination Tadej Pogačar wore for stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia has become the center of a polemica involving the UCI, race organizers, and the Italian tour’s clothing partner Castelli.
Pogačar and his UAE Emirates team were reportedly threatened with sanctions by the UCI for the “granata” color shorts that were part of the skinsuit he was touting when he lit up the finale of stage 3 on the corsa rosa on Monday.
That’s why the Slovenian Giro-slayer was back to UCI-safe black for Tuesday’s fourth stage.
“I don’t know much I can say. I liked them,” Pogačar told Eurosport of his purple shorts.
“The organizers gave us the skinsuit, so I put it on. But then we got a call from the UCI saying it’s not allowed,” Pogačar said Tuesday morning.
The purple colorway Pogačar wore Monday was part of the official race-leader’s skinsuit supplied by Giro d’Italia clothing partner Castelli.
The deep purple tone to the shorts, which were paired with a typical rosa top-half of the suit, was a nod to the legendary Grande Torino soccer team that fell victim to the Superga plane tragedy in 1949.
More than a dozen of the team’s players were killed in a disaster in which there was no survivors.
Known to be one of Italy’s greatest-ever football teams, the Turin-based side played in the granata purple that Giro d’Italia organizers RCS and Castelli controversialy added to its official racer-leader’s skinsuit.
RCS had also paid tribute to the disaster, which fell 75 years to the day of Saturday’s grande partenza, by sending the peloton over the Superga climb on stage 1 and including Grande Torino motifs on its leader’s jersey.
A nice touch?
Well, it turned out that the corsa rosa‘s recognition of one of Turin’s greatest sports teams stirred serious displeasure at the top of the UCI.
It’s been reported by Cyclingnews that the sport’s governing body was so unhappy it even threatened Pogačar with disqualification in a debate over clothing law.
Per UCI rules, race-leader’s apparel should consist of shorts that match the tone of the race’s jersey, or which fall in line with the team’s typical race outfits.
Pogačar’s granata purple did neither.
View this post on Instagram
UCI officials reportedly met with UAE Emirates team management ahead of the stage Tuesday for a dreary discussion of regulations.
“They’re talking about whether it’s permitted or not – having a different colours on the shorts to that of the jersey,” team director Joxean Matxín Fernández told GCN.
“It’s a question of interpretation of the rules, whether you understand that purple is approved, or whether it’s different to the jersey,” Matxin said ahead of the stage Tuesday. “Some understand yes, some no.
“It’s a decision for the UCI. Whatever the organisers and the UCI decide among themselves, we will respect that.”
So, back to black it was for Pogačar when he appeared from him UAE Emirates team bus in Acqui Terme ahead of stage 4 on Tuesday morning.
“Now I have my pants but no skinsuit, so maybe today I cannot attack because I’m not fast,” Pogačar joked, referring to his standard-issue black shorts.
And guess what, Pogačar kept a low profile while Jonathan Milan roared to bunch sprint victory Tuesday.
