Key points:
- For the first time in this race, a symbolic jersey will be awarded to the rider that shows the most solidarity during each stage
- The jersey, produced by Santini, will be sold to support the work of Bicicletas Sin Fronteras, a Spanish NGO that offers bikes to vulnerable young people and children in Senegal as a form of sustainable school transport
Today we present a very special jersey – one that is white, with black and yellow stripes that wrap around the wearer in a hug. This is the solidarity jersey that will reward acts of solidarity among the peloton riders with charity in mind: offering bikes as a form of sustainable school transport for vulnerable young people and children in Senegal.
This jersey will not be used to distinguish the riders who are the fastest or the most consistent, but ‘those who believe in a better world and who understand that winning is not everything, that what is truly important is that we all win,’ explains Jorge Martínez, the ideologist and creative director behind this initiative.
For this reason, each day a group of sports journalists present at La Vuelta will vote for the rider who has shown the most solidarity that day. The chosen rider will receive the solidarity jersey on the following day, at the signature podium. He will not wear it during the race, but it will be a lovely symbolic souvenir of his solidarity during La Vuelta.
The garment has been produced by Santini, the historic Italian company that also produces all the competition’s leader jerseys and collaborates in this initiative.
The solidarity jersey will be available for purchase by all cycling fans who wish to wear it in support of the Spanish NGO Bicicletas Sin Fronteras, a La Vuelta charity partner.
‘When they told us of this project, we immediately wanted to get involved and promote acts of solidarity among the peloton and, especially, to collaborate with the magnificent initiatives that Bicicletas Sin Fronteras develop in Senegal’, explained Javier Guillén, General Director of La Vuelta.
BICICLETAS SIN FRONTERAS, SOLIDARITY BIKES
The mission of Bicicletas Sin Fronteras is to promote the education, personal development and social integration of vulnerable children and young people through the use of bikes, which has the capacity to change the lives of thousands of students and their families.
‘We hope that the money raised from the sale of the La Vuelta solidarity jersey helps 200 new students to go to school without having to walk on dusty, worn out tracks,’ says Romà Boule, its founder and project director.
There are currently over 7,000 students in Senegal that benefit from the Bicicletas Sin Fronteras program. This program turns bikes into powerful tools for social transformation and into a 100% sustainableform of school transport that involves the local community through the development of repair and mechanic training workshops, and improves school attendance, increasing the percentage of students who go on to university from 31% to 57%.
The solidarity jersey is a La Vuelta initiative, in collaboration with the AS newspaper and Santini.
