Cycling Jerseys by Chris Sidwells

Despite the title, Chris Sidwells' book, Cycling Jerseys, is not just about the jerseys, but more about the history of cycle racing at the time they were in use – as confirmed by the subtitle: 'Iconic designs and the stories that made them'. In other words, the jerseys are not necessarily the star of the piece, but are really there to provide an introduction to the many wonderful stories relating to cycle racing over the years. This is unlike some other jersey-themed books where the garment takes centre stage.

Sidwells is a prolific and knowledgeable author; many of his stories are familiar, but by starting with a jersey Sidwells can give a slightly different perspective to anecdotes that you may have heard before. The jerseys, and therefore the stories that surround them, are grouped into categories such as Grand Tours, Champions, Nationals, and also various decades.

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The book starts with a history of cycle wear, which for the first recorded race was 'plus fours and a shirt and tie, with a buttoned jacket...topped off with a shallow, open-crown round-brimmed hat', but it was not long before specialist (and more practical) garments were available – for men at least.

Some of Sidwells' stories do relate specifically to the jerseys, which is what you might expect from the book. We learn how the World Championship jersey colours were taken from the colours of the Olympic rings, which in turn were chosen to include the colours from the flags of every country competing in the 1912 Olympic Games.

I had always understood that when the yellow jersey for the overall race leader first appeared in the 1919 Tour de France, the colour was chosen to match the colour of paper used by organiser L'Auto's newspaper; it turns out that editor Henri Desgrange took so long to decide on a colour for the jersey that yellow was the only colour available in sufficient quantity from the supplier in time for the race.

There is a good explanation of the change that Nivea introduced into pro cycling, 'the first company from outside cycling to become the headline sponsor of a professional team. Nivea also stands out because of the lovely irony that the star of the team, just about the toughest rider in cycling, was publicising a moisturiser.' That was surely the start of the disconnect between a main sponsor's products and what the riders might actually use themselves.

For me the book loses its 'usp' when it uses images that I'm sure I've seen before – and may not even show a jersey, or the design is invisible. This doesn't make the resulting story any less interesting, but the jersey is now a secondary part of it. In fact, of all the images, a straightforward jersey-only shot is in the minority – and that includes the final two pages containing images of all 2016 World Tour team jerseys.

It always surprises me that there are not more books that feature cycling jerseys, because there is a fresh supply of colourful designs and related stories to talk about each year. Go beyond professional cycling to the lower leagues, or into other disciplines, and there is even more to work with.

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This book is not the definitive book on cycling jerseys, as if such a thing could ever be achieved; it uses the history of cycling jerseys as a starting point to cover loosely related stories about professional cycle racing in an entertaining manner.

Verdict

A different perspective on the history of cycle racing, based around the evolution of cycling jerseys