Maap joins the WorldTour with Jayco-AlUla and Liv-Jayco-AlUla

With the new year and winter training camps on the horizon, pro cycling teams are rushing to share their new kits ahead of the WorldTour’s restart at the Santos Tour Down Under in mid-January.

The latest to showcase their new colours are Australian teams Jayco-AlUla and Liv-AlUla-Jayco who have both undergone a drastic change under the creative direction of Australian clothing brand Maap, the team’s new technical supplier. The purple-coloured jersey is inspired by the shades of Saudi night skies and the Outback’s Southern Lights as well as sand patterns and motion blur photography.

This kit unveiling kick starts a multi-year partnership between Maap and GreenEdge’s WorldTour teams from 2025 onwards. The Melbourne-based atelier hopes this re-design signifies a ‘reset’ for the Australian team as they try to forge an ‘iconic identity’ for the squads going forwards.

Cyclist spoke with Maap’s co-founders and the brand’s creative director to discuss the story behind these daring kits and the team’s visual 180.

Inspired by the Australian cosmos and Arabian sunsets

The jersey, released this morning, demonstrates a real change in tune for Jayco-AlUla and Liv-AlUla-Jayco. Maap’s debut jersey for the GreenEdge squads is among the most visually arresting in the growing list of kits released ahead of the 2025 season.

Looking at the top, the main focus of the jersey is a striking design based on linear gradients between navy and purple. This motif was inspired by ‘windswept desert sands, traditional patterns and modern cycling photography’, according to Maap’s creative team. In particular, the blocky effect drew inspiration from photo finishes, wind-tunnel test imagery and speed blur. This idea of direction and movement is a key design principle for the jersey’s creators.

‘We wanted the kit to feel fast and create a lot of movement,’ Maap’s chief creative officer Misha Glisovic explains. ‘We wanted to present something the riders feel empowered to wear. We strongly believe that as well as technical performance, making them look fast and feel good will give them some performance gains.’

In terms of the colour palette, Maap was keen to allude to the squad’s Australian and Saudi Arabian title sponsors. The violet tones reference the Aurora Australis (the Southern Lights), a natural phenomenon spotted in the Australian Outback, whilst the navy points to sunsets in the Arabian desert where the team sponsor AlUla is located. Between these deeper hues, splatterings of mint green appear throughout the outfit – a direct nod to the 13-year legacy of the GreenEdge project.

‘We considered the whole peloton and the visual element of riders being able to spot each other,’ Maap co-founder Jarrad Smith explains. ‘We’re also considering that people want to see their team on TV. We looked at a lot of aerial footage to find colours that really stood out,’ he elaborates. ‘We haven’t seen anyone use this colour before.’

Looking further down, the bib shorts are grey in tone. This colour, known to Maap as ‘shadow’, is a staple of the brand’s colour wheel and has become popular with its customers. Light in hue, the grey shorts are a distinctive touch in this visual makeover.

For the first time in three years, the men’s and women’s teams will ride in the same kit. Before, the two rode in differing colour schemes, usually with the women in a lighter purple number.

‘We thought it was important to marry up the men’s and women’s kit,’ Oliver Cousins, Maap’s co-founder, tells us. ‘We wanted them both to feel equal. That brings some unity and sends a stronger message.’

Creating 'an iconic identity'

Next season's jerseys are in stark contrast to the royal blue, white and burnt orange blend from this season. Although the team saw success with stage wins at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, the change in visual approach was integral to this collaboration between Maap and GreenEdge.

'We wanted the team to have a distinct direction and stand out in the peloton,' Misha Glisovic, Maap's chief creative officer, explains. 'We wanted to create an iconic identity for the team, whilst also being conscious of GreenEdge's legacy.'

GreenEdge, the broader name of this WorldTour Australian project, has been on the top-flight of professional cycling since 2012. During this time, the team has delivered Monument success and Grand Tour podium finishes. This stylistic 'reset', however, was agreed upon by the team's long-term owner Gerry Ryan and Maap collectively. The clothing brand describes this as 'a new era for the team'.

'The design of the team kit has been quite brand agnostic,' Cousins points out. 'Gerry [the team owner] wasn't sitting down and saying, "You have to use Jayco blue". We were open to various colour schemes and directions. Ultimately Gerry was a big fan of the purple. It doesn't feel like we're steamrolling the team in a new direction. The team were also hoping to elevate and they have organically moved in this direction.'

Maap's co-founders believe their approach will 'present cycling in a new way' to viewers at home. The brand also aspires to reach a 'new supporter base', hoping that a younger generation 'will grow up supporting GreenEdge'.

'I hope we can bring that fanship back to the WorldTour,' Smith explains. 'Not just for GreenEdge, but the WorldTour as a whole. We want to bring more people in to enjoy cycling and the way we're going to showcase the team.'

'It was a lot of work to get to that colour'

Maap spent around twelve months working on GreenEdge's kits for the 2025 season. This includes time spent researching materials, testing and designing the gear.

'It was a lot of work to get to that colour,' Smith says. 'The team signed off on it, so did the sponsors. Then the UCI had to approve it.'

Pro cycling kit is required to follow a stringent set of regulations set out by UCI. There are rules surrounding clothing size, material and colour amongst other nitpicky regulations. During the summer, the body revised its rules in regard to jersey colours (rule 1.3.051), suggesting that colours would have to be tighter regulated in order to avoid clashes with classification jerseys at Grand Tours. On top of this, the UCI gets the final say as to whether a kit is allowed into the pro peloton or not.

'We had to make a LegoMan-like version of jersey as viewed from a distance. It then gets compared to all the other teams and they make sure that we've got a distinctive enough spot in the peloton,' Glisovic adds. 'Originally, it was the Women's WorldTour leader's jersey that they were umming and ahing about [in terms of similarity].'

Despite the purple and blue tones, no similarities were flagged up when comparing this jersey to those of the blue mountain's jersey or the sprinters' cyclamen jersey at the Giro d'Italia.

Maap's step up onto the WorldTour

Maap has previously sponsored and supplied kits for smaller teams. Two British squads have sported the Australian brand's gear in recent years: women's team Lifeplus-Wahoo and the British squad Trinity Racing. This collaboration with Jayco-AlUla, however, will be the brand's first foray onto the WorldTour level.

'This is what we've always wanted to do. This was one of our core goals since the beginning,' the co-founders agree.

'There are a few teams on the WorldTour that we had on our list, but GreenEdge was always at the top. We'd spoken at length with four teams. The WorldTour is complex in terms of sponsorship. You've got to wait your turn, so the timing has worked out for us,' Smith adds.

'The partnership is something we're really invested in. GreenEdge is such a big supporter of cycling at all levels in Australia,' Cousins says. 'To us, it's iconic.'

With this being Maap's first WorldTour venture, the brand will be required to expand its repertoire to include kit ready for the top-tier of professional cycling.

'Generally, most of the product [the team use] has been designed specifically for the team,' Cousins points out. 'There are some modifications to our current kit, but a lot of the focus has gone into [developing] the lightweight road and TT suits. They're racing in these predominantly. Bibs and jerseys are more for training.'

'We are going to see some of these styles filter into our collection. We're launching the team versions of the skinsuits with some minor modifications soon. It's been a quick 12-month sprint to get these products ready,' he admits.

Along with the performance-level kit, Maap disclosed that a lifestyle clothing range is also on the way. The brand also discussed an upcoming video series featuring former GreenEdge riders as well as a wide schedule of pro cycling events at Maap's Lab stores. These plans act as a pivotal part of the brand's aim to reimagine the relationship between pro teams and fans.

'I used to wear team kits,' Smith tells us. 'Over time, it felt like that dropped off. It would be amazing to have people proud to wear team kits again. It's a goal of mine to see people wearing the Jayco kit.'