Back around ‘89 or ‘90, as part of an issue dedicated to France, National Geographic ran an article about the magic and national significance of the Tour de France, written by Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle.
It was a great piece of writing, different from the race coverage that filled the old newsprint VeloNews, and the photos were big and saturated and glossy in a way that only NatGeo was really delivering then. Among them was a full page shot of Dag Otto Lauritzen cresting a climb I wouldn’t have recognized then but probably would now, stuffing newspaper under his 7-Eleven jersey to ward off the cold on the descent. I can still see it. He was wearing a headband, as he did, and it seemed like you could see every muscle and tendon under his skin.
That article had a huge impact on teenage, mostly MTB-facing me. I fell in love with road racing. 7-Eleven was already *the* team in the United States then, but it was that photo of a Dane that made me a fan. So while I’m typically not into throwbacks, I can’t dislike this @unoxteam kit, especially since 7-Eleven has an actual tie-in with UNO-X, so it’s not just a “write our name in their typeface” derivative design exercise.
And while I haven’t confirmed, I believe Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle remains the only National Geographic author to win Paris-Roubaix. Twice.