Filippo Pozzato talks how Italian federation banned his NC jersey in 2009: "'What a sh*t jersey!' they thought of it"

The first version of Filippo Pozzato's Italian champion jersey in 2009 was banned by the Italian cycling federation because it showed the Moscow skyline, including the infamous Kremlin building.

At the end of June, Pozzato won the national title in Imola, beating Damiano Cunego and Luca Paolini. Katusha, his then employer, then hastily made a tricolor with the design of the then uniform of the Russian team. That was a blue and white shirt with the Moscow skyline on it. The national champions' jerseys also received this addition that year.

A week after his Italian title, Pozzato appeared at the Tour de France, wearing that special Italian champion jersey. "Of course, the idea for the jersey did not come from me. Team boss Andrei Tchmil was behind it, but I was not allowed to complain. Italian journalists shouted: 'That's really not possible!' Compatriots in the peloton of course also reacted and that was usually not positive. 'What a shit jersey!', those kinds of comments," Pozzato said in interview for RIDE.

The Italian association also got involved and sent an angry letter to Katusha. "I only wore this jersey for a few days, because after that letter the team designed a new jersey. There was no other outfit ready. They had to produce that immediately," the Italian looks back on that Tour de France.