2012 National Champions and their jerseys

National Championship road and time trial kits for the 2012 season 

Although most of the National Championships were earned last June (except for Australia and New Zealand), a number of the riders who will wear these prized jerseys in 2012 have changed teams this year. Here is a quick visual summary of the new championship jerseys for the 2012 cycling season.  

As a fan I enjoy identifying the national jerseys in the peloton. It makes the rider easily recognizable to the fans and uniquely honors their achievement, for at least the year, after which the colors shrink to the armbands around the jersey sleeve or collar. Still a team's roster that is packed with jerseys of various colors, representing the best of the best, is an impressive sight. I say let the sponsor logos take a backseat for these few cyclists for the year, overall the riders receive more exposure through airtime and photo time because they stand.

This post is a tradition, here are the previous jersey collections from 2011 and 2010: 2011 - National Champion Jerseys for 2010 / 2011, The New 2011 National Champions of cycling and from 2010 - National Champion Jerseys. 

American 2011 Road National Champion - Matthew Busche (Radioshack-Nissan Trek)
American 2011 Time Trial National Champion - David Zabriskie (Garmin-Baracuda)
(National Championships took place in May 2011)

Matthew Busche's champion jersey

Australian 2011 Road National Champion - Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE)
Australian 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Luke Dubridge (GreenEDGE)
(National Championships took place in January 2012)

Simon Gerrans's champion jersey

Belgian 2011 Road National Champion - Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
Belgian 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Philippe Gilbert (BMC) 
(National Championships took place in June 2011)

Philippe Gilbert's champion jersey

Brazilian 2011 Road National Champion - Murilo Fischer (Garmin-Baracuda)

Murilo Fischer's champion jersey

British 2011 Road National Champion - Bradley Wiggins (Sky Pro Cycling) 
British 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Bradley Wiggins (Sky Pro Cycling)
(The British 2011 Road National Championships took place in June 2011, the Time Trial National Championships were held in September 2011) 

Bradley Wiggins' champion jersey

Denmark 2011 Road National Champion - Nicki Sørensen (Saxo Bank)  
Denmark 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Rasmus Quaade (Team Concordia Forsikring)
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Nicki Sørensen's champion jersey

French 2011 Road National Champion - Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
French 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Christophe Kern (Europcar) 
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Sylvain Chavanel's champion jersey

German 2011 Road National Champion - Robert Wagner (Radioshack-Nissan Trek) 
German 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
(National Championships took place in June 2011)

Robert Wagner's champion jersey

Irish 2011 Road National Champion - Matthew Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) 
Irish 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Matthew Brammeier (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)   
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Matthew Brammeier's champion jersey

Italian 2011 Road National Champion - Giovanni Visconti (Movistar)  
Italian 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD)
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Giovanni Visconti's champion jersey

Lithuanian 2011 Road National Champion - Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Baracuda)
Lithuanian 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Gediminas Bagdonas (an-Post Sean Kelly)
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Luxembourg 2011 Road National Champion - Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan)  
Luxembourg 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Christian Poos (Team Differdange-Magic-Sportfood.de)
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Fränk Schleck gets an extra red stripe on his jersey (right)

Netherlands 2011 Road National Champion - Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM)
Netherlands 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Stef Clement (Rabobank)
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Pim Ligthart's champion jersey

New Zealand 2011 Road National Champion - James Williamson (Pure Black Racing)
New Zealand 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Paul Odlin (Subway Pro Cycling)
(National Championships took place in January 2012)

Norway 2011 Road National Champion - Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha)
Norway 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Pro Cycling) 
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Alexander Kristoff's champion jersey

Polish 2011 Road National Champion - Tomasz Marczynsk (Vacansoleil-DCM)

Tomasz Marczynsk's champion jersey

Spanish 2011 Road National Champion - José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar) 
Spanish 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank)
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

José Joaquín Rojas' champion jersey

Swiss 2011 Road National Champion - Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) 
Swiss 2011 Time Trial National Champion - Martin Kohler (BMC)
(National Championships took place in June 2011) 

Fabian Cancellara's champion jersey

Uzbekistan 2011 Road National Champion - Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM)

Sergey Lagutin's champion jersey

List of all 2011 national road cycling championships (the teams have not been updated) 

World Champion Road - Mark Cavendish (Sky Pro Cycling)

Mark Cavendish 2012 World Champion jersey

World Champion Time Trial - Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step)

Tony Martin 2012 World Champion jersey

 
The next Cycling World Championships will be held in Limburg, Netherlands in 2012, Florence, Italy, in 2013, and Ponferrada, Spain, in 2014.

Team BMC has three former World Champions and 3 current National Champions Road on their 2012 team. Team RadioShack-Nissan has 4 National Champions Road and 1 National Champion Time Trail on their team in 2012. Omega Pharma-Quickstep currently has 3 National Champions Road when you include Curaçao Road Race Champion Marc de Maar, 1 World Champion Time Trial  and 3 National Champions Time Trial (since Chavanel and Brammeier are both road and TT champions).  

* I will try to add more time trial national champion jerseys as the men appear in their new kits at races in 2012.  

To view the regular team jerseys for 2012: 2012 ProTour Team Jerseys

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