Dear reader,
At Escape Collective, we take the Tour de France extremely seriously (sometimes). We respect the institutions that fund it – like the perfectly-ripened, carbon-footprint-heavy Official Banana of the Tour de France, the supremely stabby Official Knife of the Tour de France, the truly vile Official Coffee of the Tour de France. These things – products precisely calibrated to line the pockets of multi-millionaires – are untouchable in our eyes.
But in 2023 an injustice has been done. The green jersey has not been untouchable. It has been touched; it is a different shade of green. I mean, would you just look at this thing:
Is it a bad colour? Not necessarily! It is a deeper green, a bluer-green, with teal accents on the cuffs and collar. It is closer to the colouring of German team Bora-Hansgrohe, closer to modern tastes. If it were merely a green jersey rather than THE green jersey, we would not be in this predicament. It is fine, maybe even good. But in the necessary context in which we must see it, there is Something Very Wrong.
Disturbed by what we have seen on the ground here at the race, we sought answers, scrambling to find the source of this badness. We feared a graphic designer’s folly, or a joyless institution’s attempt to modernise. But after some (let’s face it) pretty annoying inquiries addressed to ASO, we know why things are the way they are (even if we don’t have to like it, which we don’t.)
Skoda – the naming rights sponsor of the green jersey competition – has changed its logo and with it, the shade of green. Some Czech marketing agency being paid the big bucks has flapped its wings, and months and countries away, hell has been unleashed in the Tour de France points classification.
So: we know the reason for this thing. For bonus credit, we even know its Pantone shades – Emerald Green #0E3A2F, Electric Green #78FAAE. A simple fact looms over all those other facts: we do not care for the new green jersey.
Xoxo, yrs sincerely etc.,
Escape Collective.
Did we do a good job with this story?