Our beautiful sport of cycling is unique in that it venerates its champions by requiring them to dress up accordingly. The World Champion wears the rainbow jersey. The leader in the Tour de France wears the yellow jersey. So important is the champions’ jersey that sanctioning bodies have codified a hierarchy of jerseys: the World Champion who is leading the Tour de France wears the yellow jersey and not the rainbow jersey. The rainbow jersey does trump a continental jersey. And you’re only allowed to wear a champions’ jersey in the same discipline as you earned the privilege. And only until the next championship race.
For example: Lawson Craddock wore his BikeExchange kit in the 2022 Giro d'Italia except for stages 2 and 21. Those were time trials, and Lawson was the US time trial champion, so he wore his Stars-and-Stripes, BikeExchange branded skinsuit. Then he wore his BikeExchange skinsuit again on June 23 of that year, at the Time Trial US Nationals. He won the title again, so for the rest of 2022 and until the US Nationals in 2023, he was once again wearing the Stars-and-Stripes.
That's part of the culture and traditions of cycling: champions wear the champion's jersey when they're eligible and that kit is available. The Ann Arbor Velo Club have commissioned State Championship jerseys (pictured above) and are making them available to our State Champions to demonstrate that we are a racing club, we’re taking our racing seriously, and we’re taking our state champions seriously. We’re providing these jerseys not just as a prize, but also with an expectation: that our State Champions wear these jerseys at eligible races. Of course, if an AAVC State Champion wants to wear a skinsuit, and no State Champion skinsuit is available, we’re not going to force them to wear a jersey instead. But we want to see as many AAVC State Championship jerseys at future races as we’re allowed to put in there!
OUR 2024 STATE CHAMPIONS:
Women Juniors 14-15 Criterium: Katie Wolgast
Men Juniors 9-10 Criterium: Cameron Stocker
Men Juniors 11-12 Criterium: Wesley Stocker
Men Juniors 13-14 Criterium: Tadej Katanski-O’Brien
Men Juniors 15-16 Criterium: Braden Tall
Women Juniors 14-15 Time Trial: Katie Wolgast
Men Juniors 9-10 Time Trial: Cameron Stocker
Men Juniors 11-12 Time Trial: Wesley Stocker
Men Juniors 13-14 Time Trial: Tadej Katanski-O’Brien
Men Juniors 15-16 Time Trial: Braden Tall
Men Junior Team Time Trial: Ansel de Jong, Braden Tall, Felix Porter, Tadej Katanski-O’Brien
Mixed Junior Team Time Trial: Amalia de Jong, Cameron Stocker, Katie Wolgast and Miro Bellows
Women 50+ Time Trial: Kate Weber
Women Juniors 9-10 Cyclocross: Sylvia Schoenherr
Men Juniors 9-10 Cyclocross: Alasdair Garthoff
Men Juniors 11-12 Cyclocross: Ivan Melow
Men Juniors 13-14 Cyclocross: Matthew Hoffman
Men Juniors 17-18 Cyclocross: Braden Tall
Gender Expansive Cyclocross: Sebastian Garthoff
Women Elite Cyclocross: Karin Rand
Women Sport Cyclocross: Erin Gregoire
Men Masters 55+: William Guilbert
OUR 2023 STATE CHAMPIONS:
Women Juniors 13-15 Time Trial: Amalia de Jong
Men Juniors 13-15 Time Trial: Braden Tall
Men Junior Team Time Trial: Ansel de Jong, Conan Bellows, Miro Bellows, Tadej Katanski-O’Brien
Women Junior Team Time Trial: Amalia de Jong, Kira Horning*, Neva Horning*
Women Cat 4 Time Trial: Emily Haller
Women Juniors 13-14 Crit: Katie Wolgast
Men Juniors 9-10 Crit: Cameron Stocker
Women Juniors 13-14 Cyclocross: Katie Wolgast
Men Juniors 9-10 Cyclocross: Ivan Melow
Men Juniors 11-12 Cyclocross: Conan Bellows
Men Juniors 15-16 Cyclocross: Braden Tall
Gender Expansive Cyclocross: Sam Hansen
Women Novice Cyclocross: Karin Rand
Women Singlespeed Cyclocross: Kari Alsager
Women Sport Cyclocross: Karin Rand
*: non-AAVC riders.
Our 2022 state champions:
Women Juniors 11-12 Road Race: Katie Wolgast
Women Juniors 13-14 Road Race: Maja Kwaiser
Men Juniors 9-1 Road Race: Zayd Kamdar
Men Juniors 11-12 Road Race: Donald Smith
Men Juniors 13-14 Road Race: Braden Tall
Women Cat 3 Road Race: Kari Alsager
Men 45-49 Road Race: Jeremy Zeigler
Women Juniors 11-12 Time Trial: Amalia de Jong
Men Juniors 9-10 Time Trial: Gavin Brayman
Men Juniors 11-12 Time Trial: Donald Smith
Men Juniors 13-14 Time Trial: Braden Tall
Women Juniors 13-14 Crit: Katie Wolgast
Women Juniors 13-14 Crit: Maja Kwaiser
Men Junior 13-14 Crit: Braden Tall
Men Junior 15-16 Crit: Ansel de Jong
Women Novice/Cat 4 Crit: Emily Pogson
Women Pro/1/2/3 Crit: Kari Alsager
Gender Expansive Cyclocross: Sam Hansen
Men Juniors 9-10 Cyclocross: Ivan Melow
Men Juniors 13-14 Cyclocross: Donald Smith
Women Novice Cyclocross: Taryn Surtees
Only AAVC Members who win a State Championship race while wearing AAVC kit are eligible to receive these jerseys.