Just about everyone has been talking about those granata shorts by Tadej Pogacar at the Giro d’Italia 2024. Provided by the organization, convinced that it fell within the UCI rules regarding how to combine jersey and shorts for the leader’s uniform, the uniform made by Castelli, however, did not please the UCI. As explained by Tadej Pogacar himself, who was indeed wearing the traditional UAE Team Emirates shorts at the start of yesterday’s stage, the team received a call from race officials who threatened to disqualify the Slovenian from the race if he again wore those shorts, which for many were cyclamen, under the Maglia Rosa.

“There’s not much to say,” explained the 1998 class yesterday, “The organizers provided us with that combination, so I wore it, but then we got a call from the UCI telling us it was not allowed. Of course, at that point the Komenda phenom put on traditional, less aerodynamic shorts.

Created to honor the city of Turin, in particular as a tribute to those who died in the Superga massacre 75 years ago, the shorts were made by RCS Sport in collaboration with technical partner Castelli following the UCI regulations “which talk about harmonization and matching,” but evidently in Aigle they disagree, creating a debate that seems now destined to die down anyway given the wall raised by international demands.