The All-Red Onesie
When it comes to personal style and charisma, Marcel Kittel is at the top of the food chain. Only a certain kind of genius admits on live television that the most stressful thing about racing a Grand Tour is having your hair gel confiscated by airport security. He also clearly has a mystical, Samsonesque power to his hair; off comes his helmet and his hair is as perfect as it was during the pre-race interview. The only other person I know who can wear a helmet all day and still have dreamy hair is Kylo Ren, but he obviously uses the power of the Dark Side to cultivate that talent. I don’t know what Marcel’s trick is.
Marcel is also blessed with the sort of devilish good looks that would make you hate him a little bit if he didn’t seem so damn mischievously fun to be around. Besides his perfect blond hair, the rotten little charmer has eyes the color of glacial pools and the sort of smile that makes women’s knees buckle involuntarily; everywhere he goes, women bob around like gas station windsock dancers.
He even makes the Etixx-QuickStep team kit look good, which is quite the accomplishment given that the only thing uglier than the Etixx-QuickStep team kit is the Astana team kit. Ain’t nobody can make that turquoise strip look good so long as Mario Cipollini doesn’t come out of retirement just to give it the old college try.
No matter how good you are at looking good, some things simply can’t be done because some things – like, say, wearing an all-red spandex onesie, makes you look like you are smuggling satsumas from the Netherlands into Italy.
So kids, listen to Keeper Frank: say no to drugs and don’t try to pull off the all-red onesie; leave that to the professionals. Actually, no. Don’t leave it to the professionals, either. Let’s not leave it to anyone. Please stop. Everyone. No more onesies in any color other than black. Please. For the children.
Don’t do it for the children?
Frank – You know I’m going to disagree with you on this. Kittel is rocking this IMHO. Now, if he goes with a maglia rosa onesie …
@Oli
Oh how phrasing can get tricky when talking about exposing yourself and children. Better, perhaps to delete the whole article?
This could be my last post; I hear the sirens already.
@chuckp
So much better.
@frank
Oh dear!
Sounds like Frank has a small man-crush on the Teuton. Of course, who doesn’t?i’ve heard its difficult to import norther european breakfast meats into Italy, seems to me that Marcel figured it out
Whats been seen, cannot be unseen.
Looks like he should be pushing a bobsled, not a bike.
Put some clothes on Marcel, you’re drunk.
He should donate a third of that extra weight to the less fortunate. If time is increased by pounds dropped; a second or third circumcision could subtract hours from his rides.
I still love this:
https://youtu.be/PnJYlwo5DdE
Sufficient to say that I’ll never wear a onesie. Even in black.
@chuckp
Think I saw picks of Clenbutador donning a pink onsie in a 2008 TT.. Ermagherd..
He is looking pretty badass in pink.
I know he’s not from Frankfurt but that’s ridiculous. He’s the wurst looking sprinter I’ve ever seen.
@frank
Agreed! Restraint is important. and shown hear quite well IMO. No pink socks, no pink tape, no pink bike, (sorry Quintana) Tom looks good here. Pink and red are great but should be used sparingly.
@dyalander
Well played !
@anthony
Although Tom is one of my favourites ever, he did use pink tape…
@KogaLover
And glasses. And helmet. And trim on his shorts. Unless you’re riding a TT or you’re riding into Milan on the final day the only pink should be the Maglia Rosa, in my not so humble opinion.
Personally, i think he’s pulling it off, not to say i like it, just that he can get away with it. That said, it’s not classy, classy is rainbow stripes and black shorts. Classy would be any leaders jersey and black shorts, a nod of respect to those who have worn them before.
A red onesie and 2 wheels? In my book, there is only one individual who can rock the look…….
It’s not the onesie or the skinsuit that offends, it’s that it is just all red.
If it had a bit of variation, like black where the shorts would be, then it would be OK.
Oh god, does this mean he’s going to be in a pink skinsuit today? He’ll look like a newborn puppy.
@frank
I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t stand this year’s Etixx kit. It’s a shame, as the OPQS/EQS kits the last few years have been moderately tasteful. As well as Astana, I’d also add the inexorably hideous AG2R (mmm…teal and brown) and Lampre (just why?!) to that list.
The title photograph of this piece has Herr Greipel in the background, sporting the Lotto Soudal kit, which I think is the smartest-looking in both the men’s and women’s pelotons at present.
@fignons barber
I saw this as I scrolled down and laughed so hard my coffee went up my nose. More painful than you’d imagine.
Could be worse. At least it is not an all pink onesie (but I am with Oli here–just wear the Maglia Rosa and try to have some class and act like you’ve been there before)
Here’s Big Mig showing how to do it with class.
Just the jersey; no pink highlights, no pink tape, no pink at all except the jersey.
That Dude just exuded smoooooth.
@Buck Rogers
Seems like the Red Onesie is infectious though.
@Buck Rogers
I should have added – Especially when you only have it by default.
@fignons barber
Hilarious. Emoticons would fall short to describe the reaction. Hey, nowadays with all the sponsorships that are going on, the pros do look like teletubbies wired up with radioconnections.
@Oli
Yup, I am with you that only the last day, one should consider to be flaunting pink. Although the yellow last year on Froomies bike still hurt my eyes (when his rearskewer converted into garbage collector). I mean think about it, the mechanics are busy enough every day to keep the bikes into shape and then they have to change bartape again, since Dumoulin only had pink bartape on the last day he wore the pink jersey.
@Teocalli
Pardon my french, the guy in red looks like Sagan but he’s not with Sky? So must be Elia Viviani since Kittel is already wearing pink and Tjallingii already wearing blue. Reminds me that who wears the maglia nera actually really earned it.
Dumoulin back into pink. Kittel 8m 2s behind, ranking 95th
That suit makes Ivan Drago look like goddamn Elmo. Skinsuits on the road are just awful.
They’re one of the several reasons why I find Bouhanni impossible to support. (Also included in those reasons are his love of slamming his bike to the ground and having a hobby that involves arm strength.)
@KogaLover
Kinda my point that if you are hosting it as the actual holder is further up the hierarchy too, then one should perhaps be a bit discrete.
No onsie today- but still pink-trimmed bibshorts which shows the team came prepared. Which is why it’s a joy when someone unexpected gets a jersey, as it means maybe bar tape as maximum (mechanic sent to raid the local bike shop) and none of this nonsense. You can bet Astana have pink frame hidden in the truck.
Wearing a skinsuit is also a not so subtle way of telling your teammates “I ain’t carrying shit today” owing to the lack of pockets.
Um, the road racing skinsuits, from the Castelli Sanremo onwards, are furnished with three pockets in the normal position.
They are though a statement of intent. I can’t believe EQS didn’t have a pink onsie for Kittel, so wearing bobs and jersey was an obvious “I’m not likely to be sprinting” broadcast to the peloton.
That, or “I’m so much faster than the lot of you I don’t need to aero kit”. If you look he’s also not in the aero version of the helmet
@Al__S
“They are though a statement of intent.”
Hmm – what statement of intent was Viviani making then?
Was thinking about this last night – what options do the riders actually have here? For leader’s jerseys, it’s not the teams that provide them, it’s the race organisers. And there’s probably 2 options – a straight jersey, or a skinsuit. And given that the organisers would have to organise a skinsuit for potentially any one of 198 cyclists, they can save themselves some work by not having team specific “shorts” on the skinsuits.
So, if a rider in a jersey wants a skinsuit, they have to go with the single colour. There is of course the sensible solution of the half-and-half (red/pink on top, back on the bottom), but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s against some daft UCI reg or other.
Awaiting delivery of a cycling kit themed onesie for the nearly two week old little dude. My riding buddy told me he bought him one!
@Gianni
Seriously, how does his hair do that.
Kittel might be reading this site, since today he wore a more decent red jersey and black shorts. Unfortunately he got chewed up and spit out the back of the peloton, so if he is superstitious he might go back to the onesie…
@LeoTea
The UCI regulation is that they need to wear team-issue shorts or matching shorts. But it gets violated all the time (just look at Dumoulin’s kit).
I wonder if that skin suit is issued by the race, however, the cut looks an awful lot like the Vermarc version, but who knows.
In any case, I agree he doesn’t have much choice apart from not wearing a skinsuit but that doesn’t make it look any better. I’d forgo the 1% drag benefit and race in a jersey like a civilized person anyway.
@VirenqueforeVer
Clean spirit is such an amazingly rad movie, and indeed – that scene is a real killer!
@dyalander
My goodness my guiness! +1 to you for that one, matey!
@KogaLover
@Oli
Yeah, while Tom’s outfit is much better than the customary pink trousers, I’m with you Oli that the trim, bar tape, and helmet all belong on the final stage only – if then. It really should be the jersey only as long as we’re giving a shit, and we always give a shit.
@hudson
This.
@Buck Rogers
And he rocked 182.5mm cranks. Stud.
@Teocalli
Seriously, right? That is a time to be as understated as POSSIBLE. What the fuck, talk about acting like you’ve been there before!
@KogaLover
This is an excellent point. Never thought of that!
@BacklashJack
So much gold there. between @fignonsbarber, @dynlander, and this, I wish I could give three +1s.
@frank
My point exactly.
@frank
“So kids, listen to Keeper Frank: say no to drugs…”
Spoil sport.
@ccos
These guys aren’t technically wearing skin suits – they are wearing speed suits; they have pockets. Not big ones, but they are there.