Rabobank-Liv/Giant design graduate creates four jerseys for season-long competition
Iris Slappendel (Rabobank-Liv/Giant) received an early Christmas present from the International Cycling Union (UCI) in the shape of the announcement that she has won the competition to design the leaders jerseys for next season’s World Cup. The 28-year-old from Gouda, who graduated with a degree in Industrial Product Design in 2007, created jerseys for the overall series leader, the best young rider, and the leaders of the mountains and sprints classifications.
"I initially had three designs, one of which was chosen by the UCI for the next round,” Slappendel explained. “I made some small improvements, and ultimately it has been chosen as the best of four entries that were left over.”
Slappendel spends much of her time working hard for teammate, World and Olympic champion Marianne Vos, but won the 2012 edition of the Open de Suede Vårgårda World Cup race. Outside cycling the Dutchwoman works as a freelance designer, with products that include a range of bags and accessories made from used inner tubes.
The designs incorporate the colours of the rainbow used on the existing World Cup jersey across the chest, with the overall leader’s jersey mostly white. The sprint jersey features a blue lower half, the young rider jersey purple and the mountain jersey green. All designs include the first letter of the classification - l, S, Y, M - in the shape of the rainbow stripes.
“Iris Slappendel’s project brings together all the expected qualities,” said Andrea Marcellini, the UCI Women Cycling Coordinator. “The concept she has developed is very complete and could almost be used as it is. It is an evolution in the visual identity of the UCI Women Road World Cup and incorporates a very contemporary eighties look. The fact that the winner is an active rider is definitely the icing on the cake!”
The prize for the competition, announced by the UCI in October, was to be a “World Cup Event invitation,” which would transport the winning designer to one of the nine World Cup races, a three-night stay in a hotel and a jersey signed by the World Cup winner. Exactly how this will be awarded to Slappendel, who will likely ride many of the races, and whose teammate Vos will be the hot favourite to win the series for a sixth time in 2014, has not been announced.