Team Sky took the opportunity of this evening's opening night of the Rouleur Classic exhibition in London to unveil Castelli as their new kit partner. Sky riders Luke Rowe and Michal Kwiatkowski were present at the launch, which will see the team race under the sign of the scorpion for the 2017 season.
In partnership with Adidas and more recently Rapha, Team Sky have become known for their notoriously sombre attire, attracting the nickname 'Men in Black'.
Anyone hoping for a jazzy new look under Italian design maestros Castelli may be disappointed - the new kit is almost unchanged, the main difference being a subtle pattern of blue and white dashes on an otherwise all black jersey.
The graphic apparently celebrates every victory from Team Sky's first seven seasons; the longest lines are the four Tour de France victories, with Chris Froome's 2016 victory immediately below the Sky logo on the chest.
Team Sky will wear the new kit for racing and training from January 2017, and Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: "We're really excited to be able to announce this partnership between Team Sky and Castelli.
"Castelli will be more than a kit supplier, they will be an innovation partner. Castelli has a long history of breaking new ground when it comes to kit and design. We will continue to push hard to make sure our riders have the best clothing and equipment, and we're already excited about some of the ideas Castelli are working on with us."
Brailsford added: "We spent a lot of time thinking about our new kit and what we wanted it to represent visually. We wanted to find a way of celebrating the success we have had as a team, but also to make sure we keep our mind firmly on the future. As a team we still have an enormous amount of goals we want to achieve and, through the design of our new kit, those will always be at the forefront of our thinking.
"We've maintained the design elements which our kits have become well known for, such as the blue line, but produced something ambitious and unique to Team Sky.
"We're delighted with the results and we hope our fans will love it as much as the riders do."
The kit looks smart, and with Castelli's reputation for quality it will no doubt sell well among the team's largely British fanbase. You could say the design perfectly reflects Team Sky's approach to racing itself: data-driven, risk-averse, to some eyes perhaps even a bit dull - but it gets the job done.
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