The Jersey Project book is fresh on Australian shores and is a book that you really can judge by its cover. If the idea of discovering lots and lots of cycling jerseys from the pages of cycling history appeals to you, you will enjoy this. This book has an interesting background, it is based upon a Dutch publication called Koerstrui! (eng. Jersey) which features a collection of over 1200 jerseys from an avid Dutch collector, Henk Theuns.
The American author Bill Humphreys was given a copy in 2010 when he was in Europe following the Tour de France and became compelled to add an American chapter and present an English language version. Koerstrui! featured dominantly European jerseys so The Jersey Project evolved into quite an extensive visual journal. The modern era of jerseys from around the 1970s, is best represented though there are a number of gems from days of old.
The format of the book presents photos of the original jerseys that were worn by professional cyclists and it is split into sections including Track, The Classics, Grand Tours and World Championship jerseys. The US section takes a different approach to categorising jeseys to better suit the competitive road racing on that continent.
While some pages show only jersey photos and rider names and year, a number of jerseys are singled out with background information on the rider. If you follow pro-cycling, the stories of current and recent cycling pros will be familiar. Since the original collector was Dutch, a generous selection of jerseys are from Dutch riders and there are plenty of classic jerseys and stories from European cyclists of yesteryear.
This book is available in Australia for RRP $34.95 and $5 from each sale goes to the Tour de Cure to fund cancer research, support and prevention projects in Australia.
Your local bike store SHOULD have these books in stock, and they don’t, get them to contact the Tour de Cure: www.tourdecure.com.au (bike shops can order via email). It’s for a good cause so each purchase helps to make a difference.
