4 min readJan 23, 2026 11:20 PM IST
First published on: Jan 23, 2026 at 10:45 PM IST
“Hahahaha, we are all crossdressers, and like to stay cool,” guffaws a senior support staff of a Spanish cycling team, as he pulls out a wad of women’s stockings.
Pre-race team tents at cycling’s Pune Grand Tour, see hectic activity with mechanics fussing over bikes with fancy tool kits. But sport’s typical improvisations and last-minute hacks are unavoidable, and teams travel with paraphernalia which is straight out of a novelty shop: women’s stockings, thin ankle socks and safety pins.
There’s also kitchen funnels and zealously guarded tags with riding symbology for maps that crunch race strategy into a 1 inch X 4 inch sticker. But first, the rolls of women’s beige stockings. Massive plastic carry bags deliver ice cubes to each of the 30 team tents. This ice is then chucked into the stockings and fashioned into ice bags that are dunked into the back of the jersey, below the neck, for typically hot racing days.
“It keeps the cyclists cool and women’s stockings are best suited for their material because the ice stays intact but they are porous enough,” explains the Spaniard.
Chinese Team Li Ning Star, a super regimented outfit, uses womens ballet socks, for the same. While Indians tend to simply chuck ice into their jersey backs.
Day 1 also saw a scramble among volunteers to furnish enough safety pins to all teams. Because cyclists go at 70 kph in open, windy terrains, the jersey number bibs can literally flutter away and both bibs on the back need at least 20 safety pins to hold them tight. Pro Cycling jerseys, even if snug, have two pockets on the back which at various times hold energy bars, fluid replenishment, mobile phones and even love letters in French or Flemish for motivation. Some just carry a banana for an energy top-up on the go. The safety pins on the bibs hold it all together.
Bartender’s skills, chemist’s accuracy
Physios carry power-packs of fuel, combining a bartender’s mixology skills with a chemist’s accuracy and a chef’s gastronomy experiments. The measuring kitchen funnel sees concoctions of fruit juice, water, electrolytes going into team water bottles. Carbs in gel form (like pepsi cola in plastic tubes) is sucked on for insta energy. No Diet Coke fixes to satiate taste buds. Once in racing mode, riders actually dig Colas for their sugar and caffeine.
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Women's Stockings
Spanish teams use beige stockings as ice bags - porous material keeps riders cool at racing speeds
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Ballet Socks
Chinese Team Li Ning Star opts for women's ballet socks for ice cooling solutions
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Safety Pins
20+
Per cyclist to secure bibs at 70 kph in windy terrains
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Kitchen Funnels
Bartender mixology meets chemist accuracy - for fuel concoctions of juice, water, electrolytes
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Strategy Stickers
1"×4" handlebar tags with race symbology - attack points and feeding distances
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Race Day Cola
No Diet Coke - riders need real sugar and caffeine during competition
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Military Gums
NZ military-researched chewing gums for alertness gaining traction in peloton
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Jersey Pockets
Hold energy bars, phones, fluids - even love letters in French for motivation
30 team tents at Pune Grand Tour rely on novelty shop items alongside high-tech bikes
Indian Express InfoGenIE
For a group obsessed with Body Fat percentages in off season, their race-day needs tend to be carbs and sugar-intensive. Buzz is building around the New Zealand military-researched chewing gums that keep them alert and fuelled among cyclists, and at least two European teams hinted they leant on similar molecular power packets.
Strat tags
The handlebar carries a small sticker tag with assorted symbols and numbers. On a tough day like Stage 2 at Pune, with steep ascents, there are hills and sprint stages marked with distances from the start. The cycle meters display the route covered, but it’s the team directors who leave a tiny number indicators of strategy and when to attack in the mountains and how far the peaks are. The sticker also carries “feeding distances” — precise distances where cyclists may fuel up, to tally with the bike metre.
The shiny bikes are of course the cynosures, but assorted novelties make up race day kits.
Riders passing through the Pune City during Stage 4 of Bajaj Pune Grand Tour 2026 (PGT) 
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