Reviewed: The new Rapha Pro Team Aero jersey, as worn by Team EF at the Tour de France

These days, Rapha doesn’t have much in common with the company it once was (except, perhaps, a certain contrasting armband) — the Rapha that years ago produced the Continental series of films, in which cyclists clad in wool would scale epic mountain passes in the American West and achieve cycling immortality in the process. It was a distinctive aesthetic, but it was groundbreaking for the time. Today’s Rapha is bigger, broader. It makes clothes for mountain bikers, Zwifters and loafers. But it also makes clothes for serious road cyclists.

Rapha’s first foray into elite-level professional cycling, when it sponsored Team Sky, was over a decade ago. Today, the company is the clothing supplier to EF Education-EasyPost and relies on its athletes to develop high-tech racewear. It wasn’t so long ago that the only function of race jerseys was as small, flapping billboards, and that was the end of it. With aerodynamics now such a big part of kit choice, clothing has become one of the most crucial items that can decide the outcome of a race.

Design details

The Pro Team Aero Jersey uses a proprietary Italian fabric on the back, shoulders, sleeves, and sides. The dimpled structure is intended to trap air as it moves over the arms and shoulders to improve airflow away from the body. The jersey has an updated sleeve design that hides the seam location in the lee of the arms and has a low hem. The sleeves are quite long, as is the current aerodynamics-inspired fashion. Surprisingly, there is no contrasting armband. I can only speculate that it was chosen during a particularly stormy wind tunnel session.