Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe have finally gone full Red Bull.
Spin Cycle is Escape Collective’s news digest, published every Monday and Friday. You can read it on the website (obviously) or click here to have it delivered straight to your inbox.
Hello!
Welcome back to Spin Cycle.
We’re truly in the doldrums of the road cycling year as we patiently wait for the Tour Down Under, increasingly forgetting what a bike race looks like with each passing day.
But then along comes a couple of teams with bright new kits to remind us that better days are ahead. Not for Davide Formolo, though, unfortunately. The same goes for the latest group of riders to be stopped by Spanish police to help fund their Christmas party with fines.
Point crying over spilt milk 🥛
One of the worst things that can happen as you enter a contract year is to suffer an injury before the season has even started.
We’re not sure if it’s better or worse, in the case of Davide Formolo, to have suffered a freak accident as opposed to a regular one, where he dropped a cup of tea on his toe and was left on crutches. Formolo says he’s now sidelined for at least six weeks.
“Life is strange. There’s nothing you can do about it,” Formolo wrote on Instagram.
“As a rider, you ride about 30,000 kilometres a year on roads where trucks pass within two centimetres of your handlebars. You also often race downhill on wet roads, like Valentino Rossi at the Mugello circuit.
“And then you drop a cup of tea on your foot, resulting in a small cut… It didn’t seem like much at first, but I soon noticed I couldn’t lift my big toe anymore. I can’t do anything at the moment and have to rest for six weeks.”
What a nightmare, heal up Davide!
Arsene about? 🧥
Cycling teams’ marketing operations have been in full-steam-ahead-mode as they launch, or get ready to launch, their 2026 strips.
It both is a big deal and isn’t a big deal. But that doesn’t stop social media accounts clambering over each other trying to post leaks or sightings of new kits before anyone else.
So when a video popped up of Lidl-Trek riders pedalling around in long, Arsene Wenger-esque coats, many people jumped to the conclusion they were being overly fastidious with not letting anyone get a glimpse of the new strip before it was officially revealed.
But that’s not quite the case.
This post is for paying subscribers only
Subscribe now
Already have an account? Sign in
Did we do a good job with this story?
👍Yep
👎Nope