The six Team Sky riders competing in the Tour of Britain will be clad in distinctive variations on the standard team kit, with this ‘Sky Rainforest Rescue kit’ to be worn to raise awareness of a project to save one billion trees in the Amazon.
Using a lime green colour in place of the blue which normally adorns the chest, the jersey should stand out in the bunch and will be joined by branded jerseys, glasses, helmets, water bottles, saddles and bikes. In addition to that, Team Sky staff will also be wearing 100% recycled sunglasses.
Bradley Wiggins will be one of the six riders competing in the race, which begins in Rochedale this Saturday and finishes in London on Sunday week. He will be joined by Geraint Thomas, who wore the white jersey in the Tour de France, 2009 Tour of Ireland winner Russell Downing, Steve Cummings, Mathew Hayman and Greg Henderson, winner of a stage last month in the Eneco Tour.
The new-look jersey is in ways evocative of the Team Discovery Channel variant which was used during the 2007 Tour de France. On that occasion, blue was once again replaced by green in order to raise awareness of environmental issues.
The Sky Rainforest Rescue project is a three year plan which aims to save a million tress in Acre, northwest Brazil. One seventh of the world’s greenhouse gases come about due to deforestation, which has stripped a huge number of trees from the Amazon region.
All the money raised through the project will be donated to the charity of WWF-UK. Every £1 raised will be matched by Sky, with a guaranteed payment of £2,000,000 coming from the broadcaster.
“Wearing this unique Sky Rainforest Rescue kit during the Tour of Britain is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness for a really important issue and help reach the target of raising £4million to save one billion trees in the Amazon.,” said Wiggins, according to the team website.
More details can be found on www.sky.com/rainforestrescue.