Jonas Vingegaard will race Tuesday's stage 10 Giro d'Italia time trial in a skinsuit design originally developed for Remco Evenepoel, with the Dane obliged to race in the maglia azzurra as king of the mountains rather than Visma-Lease a Bike's usual yellow and black kit.
There has been confusion about the rules regarding race leaders' clothing, and talk that Vingegaard would prefer to race in his team-issue skinsuit created by Nimbl and tested in the wind tunnel.
However, UCI regulations are clear: 'Failure to wear the race leader’s jersey, skinsuit or distinctive sign can spark a 1,000 Swiss franc fine, start refused, elimination or disqualification.'
In addition to Vingegaard's Castelli kit, race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) will race in a maglia rosa skinsuit created by the company, Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) will race in the maglia ciclamino as points leader, and Mathys Rondel (Tudor) will race in a white skinsuit as second in the best young rider competition behind Eulálio.
The Giro d'Italia leaders' jerseys are sponsored and supplied by Castelli, and the Italian brand has confirmed to Cyclingnews that Jonas Vingegaard and the other classification leaders will wear a skinsuit based on a design created for Remco Evenepoel in 2024 and 2025 when he rode for Soudal-QuickStep.
Castelli creates two skinsuits in every size for the different jersey classifications, with brand representatives and a seamstress visiting the riders' hotels on Monday afternoon for a final fitting and tailoring.
The Italian brand believes the skinsuit could even be faster than Vingegaard's team-issued clothing due to the intense research and testing done with Evenepoel and subsequent riders in Castelli-sponsored teams.
Evenepoel's time trial ambitions and low CDA (Coefficient of aerodynamic drag) pushed Castelli to work on their skinsuit design, sparking changes in material design and cloth layout.
The time trial skinsuits have short sleeves, with Castelli believing forearms play little part in the time trial aerodynamics due to riders using aero bars.
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