About the Design
The La Vie Claire cycling team jersey is arguably one of the most iconic team kit designs ever produced. The La Vie Claire cycling team was started by Bernard Hinault, Bernard Tapie and Paul Koechli. The original idea for the kit was to have an all black kit. The inspiration for the idea was based on the All Blacks rugby team kit. The idea was dropped as many races take place in hot summer temperatures, so the idea was dropped.
The idea adopted was a design based on the artist Piet Mondriaan's art work. The design was done by Benetton and manufactured by Santini. The design was panels of colour that were red, yellow, blue and grey with thick black lines bordering the coloured panels. One of the sleeve was yellow and the other was white. These design concepts were used recently by Trek Factory Racing team amongst others. The sleeve ends and the collar were black bands of colour. The sponsors were rendered on the coloured panels. The bibshorts also have the mondrian inspired design on the sides with the Look bike manufacturers name rendered in white.
The La Vie Claire team was a super team with many top riders including Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond and Andy Hampsten.
In 1986 the rivalry in the Tour de France between team mates Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond produced one of the classic editions of the Tour. Greg Lemond went on to win the 1986 Tour de France.
Kit manufacturer - Santini
ANDERSEN Kim 10/02/1958 DEN
BAUER Steve CAN
BERNARD Jean-Francois FRA
HAFLIGER Othmar SUI
HAMPSTEN Andrew USA
KUUM Jaanus NOR