New UCI rules require teams to change their jersey designs for the 2025 season to avoid similarity to the leader's jerseys in the Grand Tours. [EF Education-Teams like EasyPost and Visma-Lease a Bike have often changed colors for the men's and women's Giro d'Italia and Tour de France to avoid being identical to the race leader's pink and yellow jerseys The UCI's new rule will also apply to other classifications in the Grand Tours, such as the green points jersey for the Tour de France and the best young rider jersey, which is usually white.

This new UCI rule appears to exist to make it easier for UCI officials to identify riders and avoid mistakes in race results and penalties.

For non-Grand Tour stage races, the UCI rules make it clear that race organizers are responsible for ensuring that the leader's jersey is sufficiently distinct from the team and national champion jerseys.

The new UCI rule shifts the responsibility for the Grand Tour to the teams. It was enacted on June 17, 2024 and will take effect beginning with the 2025 season. 9]

It states that “Teams are responsible for ensuring that the jersey is sufficiently different from the leader's jersey in the Grand Tour and in the UCI Women's World Tour individual general classification leader jersey, points classification, king of the mountains classification, and youth classification as identified by the UCI.”

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It is unclear which women's WorldTour races will be affected in 2025, but will likely include the equivalent of the three men's Grand Tours.

The UCI added the following caveat to the rules: “The obligation imposed on teams is subject to the organizer publishing information on the leader's jersey at least 6 months before the relevant event.”

The UCI also added the following caveat to the rules.

The UCI has asked Cycling News for more information on the new rules and changes to team colors for 2025, but has not yet responded.

In 2024, the UAE Team Emirates jersey resembled the best young riders jerseys of the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España.

UAE Team Emirates told Cycling News that they added black to the near all-white design for 2024, but claimed that this was their own decision to redesign for the new season, not the UCI's new rules.

However, Mauro Gianetti, team manager of UAE Team Emirates, and other team managers complained that the Grand Tour race organizers were giving priority to the color of the jersey.

“This is a new UCI rule, where the UCI controls the color of the jersey.

“Eight teams have blue jerseys, and next year there will be more .......”

Blue has permeated the professional peloton in recent years, but most team jersey designs avoid looking too much like the Giro d'Italia points jersey “Azura” by adding sponsor logos and other colors. Whether this will satisfy the UCI and the new 2025 rules remains to be seen.

The UCI has no special rules or guidelines for pro team jersey design and colors, as it protects the world champion rainbow jersey, race leader, national champion jersey, and World Cup leader jersey.

According to Cycling News, teams had to submit their jersey designs to the UCI for approval by September 30. Teams are typically asked to resolve design similarities by agreeing to revisions.

Each team has one so-called “permanent” design per season and may request changes, presumably to accommodate major new sponsors.

UCI rules allow up to three temporary “alternative designs” each year, such as EF Education-EasyPost or Visma-Lease a Bike, but they must be submitted and approved “60 days prior to the start date of the event for which they are to be worn.”

The UCI states that applications may be rejected for reasons deemed justifiable, “including but not limited to similarity to other teams' apparel, similarity to the leader's jersey, non-compliance with UCI rules regarding jerseys, and potential damage to the image of cycling, the competition or the UCI.”

The UCI stipulates that “the name, corporate logo, or trademark of the principal partner must be placed preferentially (in bold letters) on the top of the jersey, both on the front and on the back.”

The two sponsor names may be reversed; other sponsors and logos may be added or changed depending on the race and country.