At the Tour de France team presentation of Le Grand Départ, Team Jumbo-Visma rolled up with blue front tires.
Done as a promotion for Swapfiets, a Dutch bike service company that uses blue front tires on its city bikes, the blue tires will also be used during certain stages of the race itself.
Jumbo-Visma claims this will be the first time a pro team has used a blue tire at the Tour, and VeloNews certainly can’t point to any examples to dispute that claim. Colored sidewalls have certainly been a thing in the past, and Vittoria has made tubulars with all but the center strip in colors in the past. Marco Pantani rode completely all-yellow tires at the 1998 Tour when in the yellow jersey. But a completely blue tire? That’s a new one to us.
Italian tire specialist Vittoria created the tires for Jumbo-Visma with a completely new rubber compound mix that uses a specific silica as a filler. Vittoria and Jumbo-Visma claims the ‘Swapfiets-blue’ tires is as efficient as the standard Vittoria Corsa Graphene tires that the team normally races on.
“As Team Jumbo-Visma we see this as a chance to tell the broader public what we care about besides winning a race: good health, a green living environment and livable cities for everyone,” Jumbo-Visma director Richard Plugge said. “That is what Swapfiets and the blue tire stand for and we are proud that we can contribute to this in such a visible way.”
Swapfiets is a sponsor of Jumbo-Visma.
“Team Jumbo-Visma and Swapfiets have found each other through the same passion for cycling and the vision that the bicycle is the best means of transportation in cities in the pursuit of more sustainable, environmentally friendly and flexible transportation for all,” said Swapfiets CEO Marc de Vries. “We are therefore very proud to underline this mission with the introduction of a special blue tire in the peloton.”
