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Yesterday morning Team Sunweb realised it had misplaced Tom Dumoulin’s time trial skinsuit for the afternoon time trial at the Tour de France, and the world champion would have to ride in a plain strip without the rainbow-stripes.
A call was made to the team’s clothing sponsor, Etxeondo. The Spanish cycle clothing manufacturer makes all of its clothing in its own factories so was able to turn around the creation of a new skinsuit in three hours.
[Video of the quick turnaround].Delivery was made to the stage at St.-Pée-sur-Nivelle in the Basque region of France in time for Dumoulin to ride – he won the stage by one second.
Etxeondo received the call from SunWeb at 9:30am, with the race starting at 4.30pm. The request was for a one-off suit with the new Samsung logo on the legs.
"We had no extras of this TdF time trial suit so there was only one solution: make a new one," said a Etxeondo statement.
"People were called to the Etxeondo office and got to work right away. Paper was printed, the panels were cut, fabric was sublimated, and everything was stitched together. All with Tom’s exact measurements and all with Etxeondo’s manufacturing skills.
Etxeondo factory in Irura, Spain, is a 45-minute drive from St.-Pée-sur-Nivelle. The last-minute skinsuit was delivered to a relieved Dumoulin at 2pm.
"We help riders to fly and we do it with all our heart," said a Etxeondo statement
