After further, albeit obviously not exhaustive, ?research, including the use of CR lister Bret Horton's superb "Cycling's Golden Age", it is clear that the? jersey timeline information I provided yesterday, while in general accurate, ?needs further clarification.
It is pretty clear that prior to WWII most if not all jerseys, road and track?were collarless with a crew/"turtleneck" appearance and no zippers or buttons. There may have been some collared jerseys but I cannot readily locate anything that indicates this. If there is evidence I 'd bet Bret has it though.
Post WWII there appears to have been a mixture of both. It seems that the collared jersey appeared as early as 1946, but collarless jerseys remained, but some now appearing with zippers.???It seems that during the major tours, especially The Tour most riders used the collared jersey,usually with buttons, but some with zippers. ?In the other Grand tours it seems that while the collared jersey was predominant the collarless, zippered Jersey occurred more often (especially Italy - always the fashionistas!). As noted yesterday about 1960 the collarless, zippered jersey?was also taking?over in the tours, although there is a picture in Bret's book of Anquetil's 1963 ?Vuelta "Amarillo" Jersey with a buttoned collar, so there was some hanging on. In single day races post WWII the collarless jersey, both zippered, and un zippered was pretty much the norm. However, there is also documentation of collared jerseys in single day races during the '50s.
Why the changes? I believe it is two fold. As noted by another lister the idea of neck protection from rubbing tires and probably the more readily available collared ?shirt as a result of increased production capabilities from WWII made the collared jersey popular. They also obviously provided better ventilation than a collarless jersey. However, as riders less and less wrapped tires around their upper bodies, probably due to better roads,?tires and team support, the fashion moved back to the collarless jersey, but zippered to maintain ventilation. Certainly hypothetical on my part.
I also want to mention that for those on this list who are in cycle racing history, and not aware of it, I?suggest going to Cyclingrevealed.com. It focuses on the history of the grand tours and the 5 single day "Monuments" (PR, L-B-L, MSR, Giro de Lombardia, and Tour of landers) but includes info regarding other classic races. There is also a Trivia Quiz competition over the winter (just finished for the year). Highly recommended.
Rex Gilmore
Vienna, VA