Castelli will make the maillot jaune again from 2027, and Santini is out. On 13 October 2026, ASO named Castelli as the official apparel partner for all its races, ending Santini’s run after five seasons.
If you follow the business of cycling kit, this one stings. Santini only got the Tour in 2022, and it was meant to be the crowning deal of a family firm that has been in the sport since 1965. Now the scorpion has taken that crown too, just as it took the maglia rosa from Santini nine years ago.
Santini’s short reign in yellow
Santini signed a five-year deal with ASO in October 2021, covering 2022 to 2026. It made the yellow jersey and the other leader’s jerseys, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift kit, L’Étape du Tour jerseys and the public replicas. Everything came out of its factory in Bergamo.
And Santini made the most of it. Over five seasons it dressed the leaders of both the men’s Tour and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. That includes the very first yellow, green, polka-dot and white jerseys of the revived women’s race in 2022.
Its real signature was storytelling. Every year brought limited-edition jerseys built around the leader’s colours and the race itself.
Santini turned the kit into something fans wanted to wear, not just watch.
Déjà vu: the maglia rosa all over again
We have seen this film before. In August 2017, Castelli announced it would supply the Giro d’Italia leader’s jerseys from 2018. The jersey it took was Santini’s, which had made the maglia rosa since 1993, about 25 years.
Both swaps follow the same script. Castelli had dressed each race before, lost it, then came back and pushed Santini out.
Year | Race | What happened |
|---|---|---|
2027 | Tour de France and all ASO races | Castelli replaces Santini |
2022 | Tour de France | Santini starts its five-year ASO deal |
2018 | Giro d’Italia | Castelli replaces Santini |
1993 | Giro d’Italia | Santini takes over the maglia rosa |
1989–1994 | Tour de France | Castelli makes the yellow jersey |
And the pink jersey may be changing hands again. Cyclingnews reported that RCS Sport will no longer use Castelli for the Giro, and the rumour mill says Aussie brand MAAP could be next in line for the maglia rosa.
Bigger than one jersey
This is not just the yellow jersey. Castelli gets every one of ASO’s 27 pro races, every classification, and more than 100 race days across the men’s and women’s calendars. The length of the deal and its terms have not been released.
- Grand Tours: Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and the men’s and women’s Vuelta a España
- Stage races: Paris–Nice, Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Volta a Catalunya and the rest of the ASO calendar
- Amateur events: L’Étape du Tour, the Paris–Roubaix Challenge and the Liège–Bastogne–Liège Challenge, which together draw over 80,000 riders a year
The history matters to Castelli. It made the yellow jersey from 1989 to 1994, the years of Greg LeMond’s two wins and Miguel Indurain’s four. Global brand manager Steve Smith called the deal “a truly monumental moment in Castelli’s 150-year history.” ASO CEO Yann Le Moënner put it simply: “Once again, history meets the future.”
The new yellow jersey is revealed at the 2027 route presentation in Paris on 22 October. The green, polka-dot and white jerseys come later.
Who wins, who loses
For Castelli, it is a clean sweep of the jerseys that sell. Leader’s jerseys are walking billboards: on the podium every afternoon, in every photo, and on thousands of replica buyers. Holding the Tour, the Vuelta and the Femmes at once gives Castelli more of that than any brand has had in years.
For Santini, it is a hard blow twice over. It lost its longest-running showcase in 2018 and now its biggest one.
Riders and fans will judge the new jerseys on two things: how they fit and how they look. The first verdict comes on 22 October, when the new yellow jersey is unveiled in Paris.
If this saga proves anything, it’s that history alone won’t keep you in a jersey. Castelli lost the yellow in the 1990s and fought its way back. Now it’s Santini’s turn to do the same.
This is a family company that has been in the sport since 1965, still making its kit in Bergamo. It made the maglia rosa for 25 years and dressed the first Tour de France Femmes leaders. For five summers it gave the Tour some of its most creative jerseys. Losing a contract doesn’t erase any of that. Don’t bet against seeing Santini on a podium again.