Oakley launch Tour de France eyewear collection

The Tour de France gets underway soon and eyewear manufacturer Oakley have released a signature collection to celebrate the Grand Tour.

The range includes special edition Eyeshade, Racing Jacket and Radarlock glasses. Each shares the same white  frame with the yellow, green and polka dot classification jerseys represented with a small stripe across the frame.

Most interesting is perhaps the Eyeshade. First launched in 1984, this was the company’s first sports-specific eyewear and was made famous by Greg LeMond, who first raced in them in 1985. Before then the majority of pro cyclists rarely wore sunglasses, but Oakley’s sponsorship of LeMond changed all that forever.

This video by Canadian Cycling Magazine sees LeMond retelling the story of how Oakley approached him to wear the Eyeshades, and how wearing sports glasses soon spread through the peloton.

If pros did wear sunglasses back in the day, it was most likely an aviator-style sunglasses. But you only need to look at archive photos to see that most didn’t wear any glasses at all. Now you’ll be hard-pressed to spot a pro in the bunch that isn’t wearing some sort of sports-specific eyewear. Oakley succeeded in convincing cyclists they needed eyewear. Add in helmets, and it's certainly harder to pick out cyclists in a bunch than it ever used to be.

Along with the reintroduction of the Eyeshade, Oakley have also released Tour de France editions of the more contemporary Racing Jacket (above) and Radarlock Path (below) glasses.

More at http://uk.oakley.com/