The Trend for Tour de France Swap-Out Kits Has Gotten Out of Hand

Remember the days when grand tour switch-out kits were a quirky rarity? EF at the Giro d’Italia, Visma at the Tour de France?

Those were the good old days.

The days when an apparel swap was a rare necessity, one reserved to prevent color clashes with a grand tour classification jersey.

Well, at this year’s Tour de France, a new trend for token swap-outs has gotten out of hand.

Teams are going all-in on “special” Tour de France jerseys that are different-but-basically-the-same. In some cases, the rationale for the switch stretches little further than marketing kicks and a sales uplift.

Visma-Lease a Bike, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Movistar, Jayco AlUla, Pinarello-Q36.5, and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will all be wearing alternative jerseys at the 2026 Tour de France.

OK, so Visma-Lease a Bike gets the pass.

Jonas Vingegaard’s team is obligated to drop its typical tone to prevent confusion with the maillot jaune.

Elsewhere, Red Bull is wearing something different “coz it’s the team’s 13th Tour de France.”

Pinarello-Q36.5 has rolled out a new wardrobe to get in the good books with its bike and apparel title sponsors.

And Jayco-AlUla? They added a few token flashes of green for nothing but the hell of it.

Sure, I’m old, grumpy, and forgetful, but I’d only just gotten used to seeing Remco wearing a Red Bull kit after he transferred from Quick-Step this winter. And I still can’t identify Cian Uijtdebroeks in Movistar’s typical bright white.

And now they’ve gone and changed all over again, dammit.

All the 2026 Tour de France swap-out kits

Complaints aside, here are all the switch-out kits for the 2026 Tour de France, and why the heck they’ve been swapped.

Oh, and the Jayco-AlUla jersey made by MAAP and the Red Bull jersey by Specialized will set you back $205 USD and $260 USD respectively, by the way.

We’ll say no more.

Visma-Lease a Bike

Visma-Lease a Bike switches kits for every Tour de France – it’s part of the UCI regulations that team jerseys don’t clash with those awarded to the leader of a grand tour classification.

This year, “The Bees” asked fans to choose between a light or a dark variant of switch-out kit.

This darker version won out after what the team said was an “exciting fan vote” with more than 100,000 participants.

“Both jerseys [i.e., the dark and light versions] are rooted in the creative concept The Architect, inspired by the work of Antoni Gaudí and the visual identity of Barcelona. The honeycomb structure symbolizes the team’s collective strength, now expressed across two distinct editions.”

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe made a switch-out kit so similar to the original version that it could have just been due to a printer error.

The theme is “13,” referencing the number of years since the team – then known as NetApp Endura – debuted at the Tour de France.

According to a press release, “the oversized, inverted number 13 runs across the entire jersey as its central graphic.”

If you look hard enough, you’ll see it.

“In cycling, the number 13 carries its own unique mythology: many riders flip race number 13 upside down to ward off bad luck. Because even in a sport where data drives every decision, there is still room for superstition.

“The number 13 has been part of many memorable moments. Remco Evenepoel claimed his first professional victory wearing race number 13 – as did Florian Lipowitz.

“The number has also brought the team good fortune at the Tour de France. During the team’s Tour debut in 2014, it was stage 13 that first put the German squad in the spotlight of the cycling world. In 2018, the team celebrated victory on stage 13. One year later, the team’s upside-down race number 13 once again proved to be a lucky charm: Peter Sagan claimed his record-breaking green jersey while the team came closer than ever before to the overall podium in Paris.”

Jayco-AlUla

Jayco-AlUla gets the prize for the most gratuitously pointless swap-out kit.  It’s basically the same but with some green bits.

But hey, at least the team and its clothing partner, MAAP, are honest.

They changed up the look just ‘coz they can.

“Created from a shared passion to disrupt the predictability of the world of professional cycling, the swap-out kit rejects the traditional excuses for a design reset. No leader’s jersey clash to avoid, no UCI mandate, just a desire to drop something unexpected on cycling’s biggest stage.”

Pinarello-Q36.5

Pinarello-Q36.5 has never raced the Tour de France before, and it’s already decided to race in a new pale kit with “a fresh summer look.” And because that’s not enough, the team will be riding a different colorway bike, too.

Given that the squad is sponsored by a bike manufacturer and a clothing brand, we guess some stunt was inevitable for its high-profile debut.

“Driven by the desire to highlight the inherent technology and design of its performance partners and title sponsors, the project combines cutting-edge technology with a refined visual identity built around Luxter Venice, Tarmac Grey and Champion Gold, creating one of the most distinctive and hi-tech looks in this year’s peloton.”

Movistar

Like Visma-Lease a Bike, Movistar has an excuse for switching its kit for the Tour de France. The team’s recent pivot toward white for its standard all-year colorway clashes with the maillot blanc of the Tour’s best young rider.

And it seems like Visma and Movistar copied each other’s homework as they scrambled for inspiration for a mandatory swap-out.

Those blocky geometric bits on Movistar’s Tour de France jersey reference the Barcelona grand départ and the city’s legendary architect, Antoni Gaudí.

“This is our jersey for the 2026 Tour de France: a tribute to Barcelona, Gaudí, and the Sagrada Família.”

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA was so excited to be racing the Tour de France for the first time in 38 years that it revealed a switch-out kit a whole month ago.

The second-tier Spanish squad is going retro-but-modern for its long-awaited return to the Tour. The swap-out is a modern replica of the jersey the squad wore when it last competed in the Tour in the late 80s.

The team’s unexpected wildcard invite to the 2026 Tour de France was such a big deal that it even roped in 69-year-old Spanish legend Marino Lejarreta for its jersey presentation.

Lejarreta scored the squad’s best-ever Tour de France GC placing when he finished 10th overall in 1987.

“The Tour of ’87 was the first in which I ended up in the top-10 and when I began to understand how to run that race,” Lejarreta said at the kit reveal in June. “It is the most important of the calendar. Succeeding there means succeeding in cycling. We did a good Tour both that year and the next with that jersey.”

The design also carries the hashtag #ForçaJaume in support of its rider Jaume Guardeño.

The young Spaniard remains in critical condition after he suffered a severe training crash in the spring.

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