Irish cycling fans have gotten used to looking at a relatively uniform design for our national road champions' kit in the peloton each year. But now Stephen Clancy has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons.
The 32-year-old, who rode for ProConti team Novo Nordisk for 12 seasons, won the elite men's race at the Irish Gravel Championships in Co Galway last year. As the national gravel champion's kit was a new concept, apparently not bound by Cycling Ireland's design rules, Clancy was free to shake things up with his champion's look.
Working with local cycling sponsor Ravet - a luxury cycling retailer based close to La Garriga where Clancy lives in Spain - the Irish rider came up with this new Irish champion's livery. It is the closest we've seen to those European nations who stick to their national flag as the basis for their cycling champions' jerseys.
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The jersey may not stick as rigidly to the tricolour as countries like France, the Netherlands and Belgium - whose national champion's jersey is effectively their national flag in jersey form. But Clancy has stuck to only using the Irish colours.
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The torso is white, with a green right sleeve, orange left sleeve, with a small green shamrock on the right side of the chest and a larger one across the back.
He said having developed a relationship with Ravet through the years, they had decided to "do me a great favour" and create a special edition Irish champion's kit.
"It's great to throw it on and it gives you extra motivation," Clancy told stickybottle, adding he had continued to ride his bike a lot, and even race locally in Spain, since his tenure as a pro ended last year.
"When we were doing the design, we had no restrictions in terms of sponsors that needed to approve it, or no guidelines as such. We had a blank sheet to start with and we kept it simple, kept it classic. It turned out well and I'm really pleased with it."
Stephen Clancy | New look Irish champ
