Ride Your Colours

A project that gives athletes the chance to race in their national colours.

For the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, Santini Cycling and the UCI have joined forces to create Ride Your Colours, an initiative designed to support National Federations with limited resources and give their athletes the opportunity to race in a kit created especially in the colours of their country.

A total of 41 National Federations are involved in the project, with almost 1,000 garments produced at our facilities in Bergamo, including jerseys, bib shorts, gloves and socks. The National Federations benefiting from the programme are: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Dominica, El Salvador, Eritrea, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mali, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, North Macedonia, Oman, Palestine, Republic of Moldova, Rwanda, Sint Maarten, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uruguay, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It has been a significant undertaking, both in terms of production and organisation, but what matters most is what the project represents: giving every athlete the opportunity to line up at a World Championship wearing a kit that tells the story of where they come from.

The idea for Ride Your Colours came about during the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. That edition brought together athletes from 36 African nations, a record number. For some Federations, it was their first time competing at an event of this level.

On that occasion, Santini produced several national team kits within a very short timeframe, ensuring that the athletes could race in their country’s colours. That experience led to the decision to develop the idea further and give it continuity through the UCI Solidarity Programme, which supports the development of cycling among National Federations with more limited resources.

Work began in the first months of 2026. Between January and May, the participating Federations were identified and we began working with each of them on the kit designs. Each kit was developed around the country’s national colours, the Federation’s input and elements that best represented its culture and identity. The aim was to create instantly recognisable kits while meeting the technical standards required for racing at the highest level. The result was 41 different designs, developed together with the Federations before moving into production. Between June and July, the project moved from the creative stage into production. Almost 1,000 garments, including jerseys, bib shorts, gloves and socks, were made at Santini’s facilities in Bergamo.

Working with 41 different Federations meant coordinating different graphics, sizes, quantities and specifications within a very concentrated production schedule. From design and manufacturing to order preparation and delivery, the project involved teams from across the company. Every garment was made in Italy at our facilities in Bergamo.

For many of these athletes, simply lining up at a World Championship is already a major achievement. Doing so in their national colours means carrying their country with them and being immediately recognisable as its representative on the international stage.

UCI President David Lappartient highlighted how Ride Your Colours enables athletes to be clearly identified as representatives of their nation and can help them become role models for future generations of cyclists. This is also one of the aspects of the project that matters most to us at Santini.

As Monica Santini, CEO of Santini Cycling, explains: “It's an enormous pleasure for us at Santini to produce cycling kits for talented athletes from emerging cycling countries. It is already a major achievement to be at the start, and we want them to live the experience to the full and with a sense of national pride.”

Ride Your Colours is accompanying the participating Federations at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, but the project will continue beyond Montréal.
The UCI and Santini will continue to develop the initiative ahead of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships in Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc, France, which will bring together 20 different UCI World Championships and National Federations from all five continents.

Ride Your Colours was born from a very practical need, with the aim of involving more National Federations in the future and giving more athletes the opportunity to compete on the international stage in a kit that truly represents their country.
For us at Santini, it means putting our expertise, our craftsmanship and our production capabilities at the service of international cycling. And seeing athletes from 41 countries line up at a World Championship, each wearing their own national colours.

Discover all the Ride Your Colours kits and vote for your favourite
Ride Your Colours

Ride Your Colours

For the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montréal, Santini Cycling and the UCI have joined forces to create Ride Your Colours, an initiative designed to support National Federations with...