Rainbow jersey

The Rainbow jersey is the distinctive jersey worn by the reigning world champion in a bicycle racing discipline. The jersey is predominantly white with five horizontal bands of colour around the chest. From the bottom up the colours are: green, yellow, black, red and blue. The tradition is applied to all disciplines, including road racing, track racing and cyclo-cross.

Related Topics:
World champion - Bicycle racing - Road racing - Track racing - Cyclo-cross

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A world champion is entitled to wear the jersey when competing in the same discipline for which the title was won. For example, the world road race champion would wear the garment while competing in stage races and one-day races, but would not be entitled to wear it during team time trials or individual time trials. Similarly, on the track, the world individual pursuit champion would only wear the jersey when competing in other individual pursuit events.

Related Topics:
World road race champion - Team time trial - Individual time trial - Individual pursuit

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In team events, such as the team pursuit, each member of the team would be allowed to wear the rainbow jersey, but ? again ? would not wear it while racing in, say, points races or other track disciplines.

Related Topics:
Team pursuit - Points race

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The rainbow jersey helps make a world champion easier to spot for spectators, but it also has the effect of making the title-holder more visible to other competitors, particularly in road racing situations. This can be a disadvantage as it makes it more difficult for the world champion to launch an attack, while other riders will quickly seek to take advantage if they notice the rainbow jersey crashes or suffers a mechanical problem, etc.

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After the end of a rider's championship year, he or she is eligible to wear an armband in the same rainbow pattern for the remainder of his or her career. Unlike the jersey, which can only be worn in the discipline in which the title was won, the armband may be worn in any discipline.

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