Rapha Cycle Club T-shirt

Celebrating the Rapha Cycle Club and the centenary of the voiture balai, the Cycle Club T-Shirt is made from 100% high-grade cotton. Available in black or white, the t-shirt has a slim fit and features a contrast print of the Rapha broom wagon on the front and back, and a voiture balai commemorative badge on the sleeve.

The broom wagon print is the exclusive emblem for Rapha Cycle Club 2010 and is based on the original Rapha H-Van. Both Cycle Clubs in London and New York housed their very own H-Vans, replicas of the most iconic of all the broom-wagons used at the Tour de France.

About the Cycle Club

Rapha’s first ‘pop-up’ space opened in May 2010 in London, and June in NYC to critical acclaim. A hub for road riders, the Cycle Club hosts events and exhibitions, serves coffee, showcases the Rapha range and screens road racing. Rapha Cycle Club will be appearing once again in 2011.

About the Voiture Balai/Broom Wagon

Introduced to the Tour in 1910, the year the race first went into the Mountains, the ‘voiture balai’ follows the last rider on the road. If the balai catches the struggling riders they must climb off and retire, handing in their race number. The van literally sweeps the remnants of the peloton off the road.

The most iconic voiture balai is the Citroën H Van, which became the broom wagon post World War II. This was then superceded by the Citroën HY in 1958 until Renault took over in the early 1960s. Until 1992 the balai always had an old-fashioned broom strapped to its roof. Rumour suggests they still have a broom inside to satisfy tradition. Since 2004, an original H van from 1973 has been part of the Rapha family, used at events and as the official broom wagon of the Tour of Britain in 2005 and 2006.