LA VUELTA 2018: HUESERA - A KIT THAT CELEBRATES THE TOUGHEST GRAND TOUR

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Santini’s HUESERA kit celebrates the 13km “Lagos de Covadonga” climb on Stage 15, which features a brutal section of 15% gradient called La Huesera (The Boneyard).

Santini’s HUESERA kit celebrates the 13km “Lagos de Covadonga” climb on Stage 15, which features a brutal section of 15% gradient called La Huesera (The Boneyard).

KITS THAT CELEBRATES THE TOUGHEST GRAND TOUR

The Vuelta Espana is possibly the hardest Grand Tour of the 2018 season. Unforgiving team and individual time trials, explosive, high-altitude finishes, and dozens of other challenges face the riders. The Vuelta can break a champion or launch the career of an up-and-comer, all against the backdrop of Spain; rich with beauty, culture, and history.

This year’s La Vuelta inspired us to create cycling kits that celebrate both the toughness of the race and the beauty and history of Spain. We started by selecting the best-in-class fabrics to build body-hugging, technical, race-ready garments. We then put the canvas of those kits in the hands of our design team, led by cycling’s most thoughtful designer and storyteller, Fergus Niland. The result is a breathtaking collection of leader’s jerseys and inspirational commemorative kits that reflect the race we all love so much and the people and places that serve as its backdrop.

The second kit in the series is called HUESERA.

FOR THE NASTIEST CLIMB IN LA VUELTA

To produce our commemorative kits, our design team starts by spending time on the roads the race will cover. “The concept for all these stage jerseys is to pick up on ideas from the area,” says Santini lead designer, Fergus Niland. “We spent time in Spain to look for elements we can use to create something interesting, something that tells a story about the stages we’re celebrating.”

La Vuelta is known for its brutally-steep climbing, so we wanted our next kit to celebrate a climbing stage. “We wanted to find a climb that was slightly less well-known,” Niland says, “and tell its story.” He found his inspiration on Stage 15.

Covering 179-kilometers from Ribera Del Arriba to Lagos De Covadonga, Stage 15 finishes on the 13km La Covadonga climb, which features a brutal section of 15% gradient called The Boneyard (La Huesera), so tough that it leaves riders bone-weary.

BONEYARD MOTIF AND A SOMBER COLOR PALETTE

“The actual stretch of road that features the climb,” Niland says, “was the scene of a battle and massacre hundreds of years ago. Beneath the road, lay remnants of the battle.” Sensitive to that history, we wanted to draw from the name, but translate it into terms that relate to the race. “I liked the idea of a stretch of road so hard that the riders just fall over and turned to bones.”

For our HUESERA kit, the Santini design team created a logotype using images of rotten bones and adopted a color palette of somber purples with a touch of bright red for contrast. Also, in keeping with each of the Vuelta commemorative jerseys, the 15th bar of the bars logo on the back of the Huesera is highlighted to signify the stage during which the climb occurs.

Santini’s La Vuelta capsule collection is available now.



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