Pro Cycling Style – Woven Into History

Cycle jerseys come in a great variety of colours and designs, and I always enjoy looking at what teams have come up with over the years. It is unlikely that I will ever get to see more than a small percentage of them in real life, so seeing large images in a good quality book is the next best thing. Oliver Knight makes this a real pleasure in Pro Cycling Style.

Following on from The Cycling Jersey, Pro Cycling Style could be regarded as volume two of Knight's work. As I commented back in 2017, it was likely that there would be enough material for further books, possibly indefinitely – but would there be demand? It appears so. Not only is there another book, but sales have been such that the first one has even been reprinted. It seems I am not alone in enjoying such things!

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The first book had the subtitle of 'Craftmanship, Speed and Style', and the new book follows a similar format, although it is themed mainly around the last of those aspects, style. If you like one, you will like the other.

In this latest book, Knight tries to determine how to define style and discover why only some kit achieves it; he even wonders if looking good could be a marginal gain that helps you to go faster. Don't worry if you were simply hoping for lots of high-quality images of glorious jerseys, supported by a bit of background information – because you still get all of that.

It is the continued churn of teams that gives rise to most new kit, and Knight serves up another great selection. Some turned out to be an important part of cycling history, such as Renault, 7-Eleven, or Café de Colombia.

Others are more notable for their assault on the senses. I'm looking at you, Murella Rossin, keen to explore 'the creative possibilities afforded by the dye sublimation process', a new technique at the time which 'allowed inks to be printed directly into the jersey's polyester fabric'.

There are some welcome new categories, such as a visit to the Milk Race, Six Day cycling, and an unexpected article about the history of Polish cycling. The latter is text-heavy, with fewer images of jerseys (but more of other artefacts) – but all are themes that could provide plenty of future material.

Some events are back again, such as the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, and the World Championships – mainly because Knight keeps coming across new jerseys that warrant exposure.

He also focuses on the jerseys worn by a few stylish riders, such as Giuseppe Saronni, and even comes up to date with Wout van Aert. As befits the 'style' theme, there are a couple of riders making a reappearance, namely Eddy Merckx and Francesco Moser – perhaps it's the law that Merckx has to be present in every book like this? It does mean that a handful of jerseys have been repeated from the first book, to present a coherent narrative, but rest assured that no one who has both will feel remotely short-changed.

The section on 'The Creators' is nearly as much of an advertorial for various brands as it was last time, though there is some useful historical context in there. I found these pages to be the weakest in the book – although only in comparison to the extremely high standard set elsewhere.

By contrast, the section on 'The Collectors' is a delight. I wondered if Knight might have run out of enthusiasts such as these to feature, but it appears not. Some of these guys (and you won't be surprised to hear that it is all men) are impressively obsessive – I doubt that anyone will beat Jason Cool's Mapei collection, for example.

Prendas Ciclismo is included as a creator. Although the replica kits it produces will be of little use to proper collectors, they are a real benefit to those who actually want to wear retro jerseys. With company owner Andy Storey having his own personal collection, he could easily feature as a collector as well. At one point it looked as though this chapter might be overtaken by events, but fortunately the business is back in action again.

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There is also a miscellany of other contributions, which I would mainly class as heavily illustrated articles. There is plenty to read in them, supported by some great images of jerseys.

Michael Gamstetter is one, recounting his experience in riding L'Eroica events (described as 'Comic-Con for cyclists'), and his endless mission to be period-accurate while (of course) looking good; another is the ever-stylish Brian Holm, who supports the idea of a team having only one sponsor because 'just one logo with nothing else present...usually leads to a great jersey design'.

I always respect those who choose to self-publish their work, and Knight shows that this decision doesn't necessarily lead to higher-than-average pricing or lower-than-average production values. On the contrary, as with his first book, Knight seems to have gone over the top with heavyweight glossy paper and an overall feel of high quality – which is appropriate for such a large, colourful, and high-price publication.

Obviously the two books complement each other, and because they have the same production values they look good together. If you decide that you want the set, Knight has offered a 10 per cent discount if you use 'road.cc discount code' as the promotional code.

Just be warned that if more editions materialise, this might not be the end of it. But if he keeps up this standard, those of us with an interest in the subject won't be complaining.

Verdict

Another beautifully produced tribute to one of the most visible bits of cycling kit