Tadej Pogacar's purple shorts made illegal! Giro d'Italia leader threatened with disqualification

Cycling
Wednesday, 08 May 2024 at 09:45
tadejpogacar

Giro d'Italia organizers gave Tadej Pogacar shorts with a very noticeable colour on stage 3. After the UAE Team Emirates put on the pink jersey, he was also offered grenade-coloured shorts in tribute of the city of Torino and it's football team - in which many players passed away in 1949 on a plane crash. But the UCI was quick to ban this from happening in the space of only hours.

At the start of stage 4 Pogacar was back to black shorts, as expected taking into consideration his team's original attire. Yesterday's specific decision was explained by RCS Sport direction Paulo Bellino:

“We have made a change. Since this year we have made a Pink Jersey with grenade inserts, which recall the Grande Partenza on May 4th and there are various grenade inserts throughout the jersey, in my opinion, absolutely, as per the regulations," he told Eurosport.

"The colors match, because there are colors that recall. We therefore changed the bodysuit with grenade shorts that match the back where the 107 is and some internal colors. We did it with Castelli, who is our sponsor, who in my opinion did a wonderful job," he argued.

"It is clear that it is a little different from the past, but in my opinion, in Castelli's opinion, we are perfectly compliant with the regulation, which talks about harmonization and racing. And, in my opinion, the two colors match and harmonize together."

According to Cyclingnews not only was the equipment forbidden, but on Monday night UAE Team Emirates were warned not to use it, under the threat of disqualifying the race leader himself from the race.

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