Santini La Vuelta 2018 Euskadi Cotton Cap - White/Green/Red

Santini are delighted to present the new collection of La Vuelta, one of the leading men’s road cycling races on the UCI World Tour. With more than 80 years of tradition, La Vuelta today is close to everyone’s hearts. We share the same values and passion. An exciting event for everyone, not only for pros but for all cyclists who train with passion and challenge themselves. For Santini the partnership with La Vuelta is more than just a race, it represents our continuing contribution for a new chapter in cycling history.

The Vuelta Espana may be the toughest 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 is a race that can break a champion or launch the career of an up-and-comer. But as tough as the racecourse is, the country of Spain provides a backdrop rich with beauty, culture, and history.

The opening time trial is held on the colorful streets of Malaga, birthplace of Pablo Picasso. The race then passes through stunning Almeria on the Mediterranean Sea, across the picturesque Basque Country, and winds its way over the Pyrenees in Catalonia. It culminates with a finale in Madrid, crossing the Puerta del Sol central square, location of the Kilometre Cero plaque, the point from which distances on all roads in Spain are measured.

The 2018 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.

As passes through the Basque region, we wanted to honor the tough and independent Basque people. We drew inspiration from the Gernikako Arbola (the Tree of Gernika). Basques in the Middle Ages used large local trees as gathering and meeting places to come together as a people. The Gernikako Arbola symbolizes freedom and independence for the Basque people and we honor it and them with a tree-trunk cross-section in the design. We used a simplified version of the Euskadi logotype for this jersey, a style of lettering found on old Basque tombstones. For color, we used slightly richer versions of the traditional red, green and white of the Basque flag.