Earlier today the new Team Garmin-Sharp unveiled its kit for the 2012 Tour de France at a press conference at a press conference in Lanaken, Belgium.

Slipstream Sports - the company behind former Team Garmin-Barracuda now Team Garmin-Sharp - earlier this week announced that is has welcomed on board Sharp as new co-sponsor for the team.

The complete Team Garmin-Sharp kit is designed and produced by Italian clothing manufacturer Castelli.

The new Team Garmin-Sharp jersey and shorts unsurprisingly prominently display the Sharp logo while retaining the Garmin and Barracuda company logos. The signature Slipstream Sports argyle is incorporated to please the team's many loyal fans.

"This team is rider-centric, and Castelli has done its part once again to make sure the riders have the most comfortable and technically-advanced clothing for all racing and training, and especially for the Tour de France," Castelli Brand Manager Steve Smith explained.

In addition to the new colors, the (2012 Tour de France) riders will be wearing updated light weight hot weather jerseys tested and improved by the team during this year's Giro d'Italia won by the team's own Ryder Hesjedal.

"We've really worked on clothing to make the Garmin-Sharp riders faster in France in July. The so-called "Climber's Jersey" has been engineered to be lightweight in the mountains and to keep the riders cooler on the hottest days. And we were able to do it with only a 3 watt penalty compared to our Aero Jersey that was created to cheat the wind," Smith explained.

In order to help the Team Garmin-Sharp riders even further on the extremely hot days that all editions of the Tour de France bring, Castelli has developed a new bib short made for these specific warm weather conditions.

"We used 7 different fabrics to get the short as cool as possible, yet still providing proper fit and coverage. The crew at the Giro (d'Italia) were doing the initial testing with an eye toward the Tour, and obviously we're pretty happy with the results," Smith told Roadcycling.com when asked to describe the technology applied in the new short and the development process behind it.

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