2016 Tour de Fleece colourways: Chauvet

For our next TdF reveal, we're going to jump from Stage 4 to Stage 13 - the first time trial of the Tour de France, running from Bourd-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc, home of the stupendous prehistoric cave paintings of Chauvet.

The paintings of Chauvet, discovered by chance in 1994, are estimated to date back to 36,000 years ago, and are renowned for their uncommon representations of predatory animals. Hundreds of animals are depicted on the walls of the cave, including cave lions, panthers, bears and hyenas. Beyond the realistic pictures, the artists used the shape of the walls to emphasise the features of the animals shown.

In looking at images of the cave paintings, I was struck by the variety of earthy colours, generated by combinations of red ochre and charcoal, and I've used these colours in dyeing this top. The result is a blend of reds, rusts, dark browns, charcoal and steely blue. I'm thrilled with this combination, and can't wait to see it spun up!