Theory emerges Visma's black kit is to blame for Stage 12 suffering at Tour de France: "It's such a small detail but Tadej Pogacar is in all-white"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar cooked Team Visma | Lease a Bike on the first summit finish of the 2025 Tour de France on Thursday. The Slovenian romped to a dominant stage 12 win atop Hautacam, with more than two minutes separating the UAE leader and Jonas Vingegaard. What was to blame for the Visma team's disappointing underperformance though? Adam Blythe thinks he might have the answer.
Speaking on TNT Sports, the former British national champion theorises that more than a physical or even mental aspect to the suffering endured by the likes of Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Simon Yates, it might actually boil down to something as simple as the colour of the Team Visma | Lease a Bike kit at the Tour de France.
"One thing with the heat that I'm always surprised by, and it is such a small detail, but when it's hot and you've got a black outfit on, you're always going to be hotter. Because black attracts the sun," he explains. "I know it's such a small detail, but Tadej is in all-white, and that reflects the heat."
"If you look at Visma, for the last five years, all their kits have been really dark colours. And on a day like yesterday, it attracts more heat, and it might be marginal, but if your body temperature is going up two or three points of a degree, that is a lot when you're trying to keep your body temperature down," Blythe adds.
The Brit has some support in his theory too. "It can make the difference during such an effort on such a hot day, such a fast day, it can make a difference," agrees former Tour de France stage winner Zdenek Stybar.
"A big part of the problem I guess, is that they've chosen a kit that is predominantly yellow throughout the whole season and they must change for the Tour de France. They can't wear a yellow kit," adds sprint legend Robbie McEwen. "But there's options. You can't have white, because there's a White Jersey in the Tour, but there are other options. Very minor details, but you add it up over an entire Tour... And it's been very hot these first two weeks."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments