Now that the tour has officially landed in France, and we’ve had a few days to get a good look at the peloton in action, we wanted to feature our top-5 jerseys from this year’s peloton. So with that being said, below is our list!

Success at the Tour comes in many shapes and forms. Winning one of the race classifications is one of them. Arguably, the more important form of success for many teams at the Tour is publicity. EF will likely take the GC of the latter with their latest jersey collaboration. EF is no stranger to good kit, their clothing sponsor Rapha has done what Castelli & POC could not, and that is - first off - get rid of that awful argyle team boss, Jonathan Vaughters, loves. Secondly, is continue to come up with good looking kit that is original in its design principles and a recycled template with current colors and sponsor logos.

Their Tour kit collaboration with Palace Skateboards is their second of the kind (2021 Giro d’Italia) and done in tandem with, and to highlight, the Women’s EF Education First-Tibco-SVB squad who will be taking part in this year’s Tour de France Femmes

The implementation of this design is also top-notch. With matching helmets, bikes (the TT bikes/wheels!), and the message it conveys, there was no way this wasn’t the top choice.

Unlike our top choice, Team Emirates represents the team that has enjoyed the most success - as far as racing results go - over the last couple of editions of the Tour. Tadej Pogacar, who is still under 25, and a favorite for this year’s Tour title, hasn’t worn his team’s jersey much over the course of the last couple of tours, donning instead either the Young Rider’s Classification jersey or the General Classification jersey instead.

If you can put aside the connections to the UAE, and that country’s history of human rights violations (see sports washing), the kit itself is a nice modern take on a classic. The white torso and black sleeves provide a nice contrast and tie well with the black bibs. The red band across the chest, and sleeves, as well as the very subtle gold stripes on the sleeves, make this our second favorite kit in this year’s Tour.

Had they kept the original design of the jersey, we likely would have left them off the list but something about the white base in the Tour de France edition transforms this jersey from a bottom-5 to a top-5 kit.

While not all that different from the non-Tour version, the asymmetrical element on this special edition kit somehow looks more intentional and less like an accident. In a colorful peloton, their jersey sticks out, and not in a bad way. We’re even willing to cut them a bit of slack for not matching the green on the sleeve to the green on the torso.

Photo: ASO/Pauline Ballet

The Dutch squad is the one team in the peloton who, by rule, has to change their jersey for the Tour, so we were expecting a one-off kit for this race. The reason is simple, no team in a grand tour can wear a jersey that is too similar in color to the GC leader’s jersey. This is the reason why the initial EF-Palace collaboration came about at last year’s Giro.

As far as Jumbo-Visma’s kit goes, is there supposed to be a connection to van Gogh? The jersey looks as if van Gogh’s Starry Night raced a really muddy cyclocross race… yes, we know, both very Dutch.

It’s hard not to think that this design is influenced slightly (or not so slightly) by the style of the EF kits post Rapha’s takeover, and if so, we applaud the team’s confidence in going with the mud-tie-dye motif.

It’s not the Tour de France without the colors of FDJ in the peloton, so naturally they make our top-5. Here’s to Pinot flying up the Alps d’Huez on Bastille Day representing Le Tricolour!