5 things you should know about that Colombian cycling kit

Posted on 15 September 2014 by Alex Murray

1. It’s not the national team or the national team kit

It’s the colours of IDRD-Bogotá Humana-San Mateo-Solgar, who the Colombian Federation proudly announced would be competing in the Giro Del Toscana

2. It’s not flesh or nude, it’s gold

There are numerous tweets to this effect from people who have been paying attention. Lycra done as gold effect never photographs well. It’s unfortunate, but there you are. It’s not “unacceptable by any standard of decency” as the UCI boss Brian Cookson seems to suggest.

3. They’ve apparently been wearing it for up to 9 months

Here’s a picture of it being raced to victory in Colombia in August in the Carrera de la Mujer in Bogota. The rider with the bottle in her mouth is wearing it and wins the race. Here’s the report from Las Bielas

Jono Coulter tweeted this picture of the kit in El Salvador earlier this year.

@SSbike @leguape @Velocentric in El Salvador earlier this year pic.twitter.com/gOpB8kEDmJ

— Jono Coulter (@JonoCoulter) September 15, 2014

4. It seems to have been designed by one of the riders on the team

ABC.es quotes several Colombia sources in its report on the kerfuffle (via Frontier Sports)

5. There is still no minimum wage for women in professional cycling

Events deemed “Women’s Elite” – like the Giro del Toscana at which they were competing – are roughly equivalent to the top two tiers of the men’s sport.

In 2011, second tier men’s teams were required to pay a minimum around 32,000 euro, according to the Inner Ring. A woman who wins every event in their top tier World Cup Series probably would fall short of that sum in prize money.

Most women in the top tier of professional cycling aren’t even making what most countries would describe as a minimum wage.

So you can be outraged by an unflattering photo.

Or you can be outraged by the fact that the people running the sport still haven’t bought forward meaningful change to ensure that women are not on the end of enduring sexism in the sport where their right to a fair wage for a professional job is still considered less important than the design of their kit.

This entry was posted in Professional, Women and tagged Bogota, Carrera de la Mujer, Colombia, Giro del Toscana, IDRD-Bogotá Humana-San Mateo-Solgar, kit, women. Bookmark the permalink.

Seiclo Dev

There’s no getting away from the fact that it is a naff kit (but still better than AG2R). It also doesn’t help with the padding in the shorts but I agree that there are far more important battles to win first (financing, profile of riders and races etc). Brian Cookson has a lot to live up to if he is going to fulfil all his promises on womens cycling alone.
TXH

There’s no minimun wage for most of the sports – men or women…
- Alex Murray
  
  Absolutely, but we’re talking about the top tier of a sport where there is enough money to pay some very average men the budget of an entire women’s team. I think it needs rebalancing.
  - Bob
    
    Market forces often dictate these things.
    - The Gremlin King
      
      Market forces being the invisible hands of invisible money gremlins who weld the power of invisible dictators.
- Sarah
  
  There are minimum wage for men’s teams at World Tour and Pro-Conti level, it’s in the UCI’s rules
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The Outdoor Times

I wasn’t outraged. Just mildly amused.
Biff Tannen

If you are outraged, your world view is impossibly narrow.
andafterpeakoilcomes

1 What are these numpty tweets about it being ok because a woman designed it ? Some women are so lacking in confidence/need the buck, they pose naked on the bike in their desire to feel wanted by men. The fact that one fool wants to do that does not mean the rest have to sell their souls to keep her company. It is called self respect. Good old man of the people Dave Duffield managed to hire a bunch of girls to ride around topless for some promotion in the 1970’s. the “who” does it, does not make it good.

2 it has been around for months so that makes it ok ? A nice picture of them all squatting on some steps so you can’t see it is a reason to accept it ? This is entirely false logic. This is the same as “there are no speed cameras along that stretch of the road so it is ok to speed ” argument. The commissaires, race organisers and the rest of the bunch may not have the bottle to say – excuse me girls that is taking the p**s but because they are all weak-willed does not mean it is given a “pass”.

3 its not “flesh” its “gold”. It could be called shinny banana yoghurt but it still doesn’t make it good. Its like it is to get attention whatever you call it. Whoever was behind it knew the score, the girls wouldn’t get any plaudits for the athletic performance but just like Janet Jackson and her “wardrobe malfunction”, they could grab the headlines by selling the sport down the tubes. It is not far away from how the PED users view the sport.

Regardless – would you show this to your 13 year old daughter and say – one day you could be stood up there looking like this with all the crowds around you.

As to whether it really was designed by one of the girls – according to Nicole Cooke’s autobiography, I am not too sure quite what weight we can put on any pronouncements from them – a bit of spin perhaps. And good on her for tweeting it with a bit of spine – it does make the sport look like a joke and anyone with a bit of self respect would have said – “get stuffed”, and set to with a pair of scissors – I am wearing my black shorts and will have your top.

The minimum wage issue is critical as is the way they UCI have let the women’s side of the sport just decay. The G di Toscana used to be a great race, the last before the World Champs with everyone there. It is lucky still to be there.

This is a sideshow but criticse it for what it is and park it up – don’t excuse it.
- The Gremlin King
  
  And after peak oil comes, no one will have any oil to make the plastic fibres needed for lycra. Save the Whales, Bike nude today!
- Gordon Morris
  
  Having a bad day, are we? Look, gold lycra doesn’t photograph well, and when you have lighting in the wrong angle you’ll end up with unfortunate shadows.
  
  If you really want to be outraged, go check Lizzy Armistead’s new outfit that makes her look like she’s wearing a corset. This is just a badly designed outfit by a team who can’t afford a professional
  designer.
- ddd
  
  Better than numpty posts expressing outrage over an area of gold on cycling kit.
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Winky

I’m not outraged by either the kit or the (lack of) wages for women’s cycling. The money comes from sponsors. They pay what makes sense to them. Force the wages up and the sponsors will flee. Anyone playing sport is lucky to be doing so. If you can’t make a living at it, stop bitching and go and get a job like the rest of us. Seriously, the self-entitled nonsense that often spews from wannabe professional entertainers’ mouths makes me want to puke my guts up, sir.
allen craig

I like the “there are more important things to worry about” argument. Because NONE of those “more important things” are being addressed in Colombia, so it ends up just being an excuse to ignore the issue, or not take responsibility for it. (Oh, que pena!)

It’s a simple decision made without good foresight, that’s all. But that raises the question: should SOMEONE who was involved in the process have been able to see to potential problem with a flesh-colored, women’s uniform?
- Alex Murray
  
  What I find odd is that it doesn’t look “flesh toned” on most of the riders, who have almost all got far darker legs anyway.
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Teresa Cadena

It is right, and very well seek the center of this malicious and unfortunate controversy – good article! So you must also know the scandal was not caused by the UCI president, but by Hilary Evans @OlympicStatman
who altered 1st. picture – in color intensity, giving an awful effect .. completely morbid and daring; did so viral. Just check the photos subsequent on that account, so you can verify that they don´t have that grotesque appearance, which was cause for ridicule, vulgarity and insults against Colombian cyclists girls. That although they had no taste in *kit, *uniform design neither they nor their sponsors – was not the case with carry to the extreme of such a public pillory, being trampled morally.
You see that @OlympicStatman, on 13 Sept. scarcely had 1,500 followers,
and with that malicious tweet got 11K RT in two days, and increase your
followers. Someone who does not face, but with hacker skills, riding a
different photo of another account, and deflects the replies of her page; you
just check it with my tweets directed at her.
This should go to an international court, to see if possible that the dignity and morality of women in social networks are trampled arbitrarily without legal consequences.
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5 things you should know about that Colombian cycling kit

1. It’s not the national team or the national team kit

2. It’s not flesh or nude, it’s gold

3. They’ve apparently been wearing it for up to 9 months

Jono Coulter tweeted this picture of the kit in El Salvador earlier this year.

4. It seems to have been designed by one of the riders on the team

5. There is still no minimum wage for women in professional cycling

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5 things you should know about that Colombian cycling kit

1. It’s not the national team or the national team kit

2. It’s not flesh or nude, it’s gold

3. They’ve apparently been wearing it for up to 9 months

Jono Coulter tweeted this picture of the kit in El Salvador earlier this year.

4. It seems to have been designed by one of the riders on the team

5. There is still no minimum wage for women in professional cycling

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