From a ribbon to a legend: The history and magic of the rainbow jersey in cycling

The World Championships began on a much smaller scale in 1921. The race was open only to amateurs, and winner Gunnar Sköld of Sweden was awarded a purple ribbon to wear across his chest. There was no rainbow jersey yet, just a simple way of marking out the new world champion. A year later, the ribbon was replaced by a jersey with coloured bands.

Professional riders first raced for the rainbow jersey in 1927, when Alfredo Binda won at the Nürburgring. Binda would go on to become one of the greats of his era, but he was also the first professional road world champion to wear the stripes. There was no grand launch or explanation behind the jersey. It simply became part of the sport, and before long everyone knew what it meant.

Blue, red, black, yellow and green. The colours came from the Olympic flag, designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913 to represent the five continents. Cycling adopted the same palette, giving the world champion a jersey that stood apart from every other in the sport.

Very little has changed since. A white jersey, five bands around the chest and sleeves, used across road, track, mountain bike and cyclocross. Teams, sponsors and national kits come and go, but the rainbow jersey remains almost exactly as it was. You can spot it just as easily in a black and white photograph from the 1930s as you can in the peloton today.

Winning the rainbow jersey brings a privilege that lasts for the next twelve months. The reigning world champion wears it in every race of their discipline, making them instantly recognisable in the peloton. There is no hiding in the jersey. Rivals know where you are, fans look for you and the cameras follow you more closely.

Óscar Freire, a three time world champion, once described that feeling: “When you put on the World Champion jersey, you are the only one in the group wearing it... you say to yourself that right now, in this race, you are different because you are wearing this jersey.” Bernard Hinault felt a similar responsibility after winning in Sallanches in 1980: “I have to go the extra mile because I have this jersey. We have to honour it and not just think we are the strongest.”

The jersey may only be worn for a year, but the rainbow stripes stay with a rider for the rest of their career. Former world champions can wear the bands on their collar and sleeves, a small reminder of what they once achieved.

The rainbow jersey has also built up its share of superstition. Over the years, riders and journalists have often talked about a supposed curse, usually after a world champion struggled for results or suffered a run of bad luck. In 2015, the British Medical Journal even published a study looking at the idea. It found little evidence for a genuine curse, but the story has never completely disappeared.

Philippe Gilbert dismissed it when speaking to L’Équipe in 2013. “It isn’t cursed,” he said. “The problem is that it doesn’t go unnoticed in a group where everyone is looking at it.” Julian Alaphilippe also spoke about the extra pressure that comes with the jersey after becoming world champion: “Raising my arms on the podium in the World Champion jersey is something I want to do as soon as possible, to get rid of the pressure of wanting to win this jersey so much.”

That pressure is probably the simplest explanation for the so called curse. A world champion is watched more closely and expected to perform every time they race. Plenty of riders have still enjoyed huge success in the jersey. Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond all won the Tour de France while wearing the rainbow stripes.

For some riders, the jersey is about more than results. “Wearing it reminds you that that day you were the best,” said Anna van der Breggen. Lizzie Deignan described it in a similar way: “It’s an honour to wear it. It is like it doesn’t really belong to you. It’s something you get a loan of for a year and I liked that.”

And that may be the truest measure of the rainbow: it is not kept, only carried. A reminder that champions come and go, while the stripes remain, waiting to be inherited and honoured for another season.