The 2013 edition of Milan-San Remo was one of the most epic editions in the 114-year history of the first Classic of the season. Driving snow in the early part of the race meant that the course was shortened from 298km to 246km, and the riders had to be transported by bus around the Passo del Turchino and Le Manie climbs because conditions were too bad.
But amid all the drama on the road, something more curious happened: the usually colourful peloton started to take on a uniform shade of black.
The reason was that after the riders got off the buses and back onto their bikes, scores of them donned Castelli’s Gabba jersey, most notably even riders from teams sponsored by other manufacturers. Some had even gone to the lengths of blacking out the white Castelli logo in an attempt to conceal it. As publicity goes, Castelli couldn’t have asked for anything better, and since then every brand under the sun have released a Gabba-a-like as demand for a race-worthy, weatherproof jersey has gone through the roof.
Named after current Team Sky directeur sportif Gabriel Rasch, who came up with the idea for a short-sleeved water resistant stretch jersey to be used with Castelli’s Nanoflex arm warmers while he was riding for the Cervélo Test Team back in 2009, it’s been described by Roger Hammond as the best bit of kit he’s ever worn.
It is, however, worth noting exactly what the Gabba is and isn’t. First off, it’s not waterproof, rather water resistant. It might sound like splitting hairs but it’s an important distinction. Waterproof means no rain will get through, whereas water resistant means that while light or even moderate rain might be held off, when the heavens open for a prolonged period then you’ll still be getting wet unless you’ve got a rain jacket in your back pocket. It does, however, have Gore’s excellent WindStopper material built into the front, which means as a single layer goes it’ll stop that chill better than almost anything around. What the Gabba does best, is keep wind and rain at bay, without sacrificing fit (or, rather, aerodynamics) and breathability.
The original Gabba has been updated and the new version, the Gabba 2 (available as a long sleeve or short sleeve jersey), has a storm flap for the zip, a reworked waistband and dropped tail, and improved drainage for the pockets.
Even though rain is on the forecast for this year’s edition of Milan-San Remo on Sunday, don’t expect Gabbas to be so prevalent during the 2015 Classics season. Other brands have been making ground on Castelli and many now have their own equivalent of the Gabba which their sponsored World Tour teams will be equipped with. Here are six more from Sportful, Endura, Santini, Vermarc, Moa and Rapha that you might see over the next month. Depending on the weather, of course…
