Blazin' Saddles: Tinkoff trump Sky with divisive new training kit

Training in sunny Gran Canaria, the Tinkoff team of Alberto Contador and Peter Sagan chose their time wisely to launch their new training kit - just one day before Rapha revealed their final number for Team Sky.

Remember last year's controversial camouflage kit? If not, here's a quick reminder...

Well, Oleg's boys are back making the headlines once again with an updated training version for 2016 that looks like it's been designed by Escher while on safari.

Not content with being the first professional cycling team to launch a separate training kit, Tinkoff have bettered that by becoming the first team to launch a second such kit - and this time it has a new major sponsor emblazoned, Gothic fluorescence-style, across the chest.

'La Datcha' is the French version of the Russian word 'Dacha' and refers to traditional second homes (this being Tinkoff's second kit - geddit?). It's also the name of owner Oleg Tinkov's two Alpine chalets in the French ski resorts of Courchevel and Van Thorens, which will be completed in 2016.

While some of the Tinkoff riders may feel a little uncomfortable in the black-and-white geometric confusion of a kit, Italian veteran Daniele Bennati should feel right at home - having already apparently modelled an early prototype back in 2003.

Whatever your views on the eye-catching kit, there's no denying that its release was a spot of genius on behalf of Tinkov.

Some may call him the Donald Trump of cycling, but the Russian billionaire certainly knows how to make headlines and promote his interests - and on the eve of the launch of rival Team Sky's new racing kit, everyone was instead talking about this flamboyant Sportful design and not the latest minimalist Rapha offering.

The Sky kit features more colour than previous Sky kits - that's to say it's not entirely black. The go-faster horizontal blue and white stripes are a nod towards the Rapha Brevet training jersey, while the clothing company, in its last year as kit provider for Sky, has included its name on the left leg of the shorts.

If the Tinkoff training kit is garish then this slick offering is anything but - although critics will no doubt claim it's rather safe, the cycling equivalent of a pack of black birds, a dove and a blue tit sitting on the fence.

The colour combination may have one Katusha-bound rider wishing he'd made a different decision when leaving Astana after a troubled season.

Talking of flags, it's worth adding that Etixx-QuickStep's new kit(tel) perhaps kicks both Tinkoff's and Sky's out the water...

Either way, once Sky and Rapha had confirmed their final collaborative effort ahead of the coming season, social media was quick to deliver its verdict.