Prendas Ciclismo have teamed up with John Pierce of Photosport International to produce possibly the coolest 2010 calendar for the diehard cyclist.

It’s a retro-inspired affair packed with evocative photographs of some of the all-time best cyclists, such as Merckx, Hinault, Simpson and a whole load more. Each month of the calendar is accompanied by a unique photo depicting a jersey from the company’s range.

The calendar came about “many moons ago,” says Prendas, “when we often saw photos in the limited amount of printed media available credited to John Pierce/Photosport International. These were the days before the world wide web and the vast array of cycling magazines available today. These photos always seemed to depict exotic locations and races that were somehow out of reach and a stark contrast to local time trials and local 3/J’s and circuit races.

“Many years later, whilst researching our many retro replica jerseys, we still encountered fabulous photos accredited the same John Pierce. Further research revealed that John was still “snapping” at all the important races far and wide. After a bit of nifty “cyber detective” work by Andy, we had an email address for John and he turned out to be extremely helpful in supplying photos from different eras for our research projects.

“What amazed us apart from the extraordinary photographs was the archive that John had amassed. It was unbelievable how long he had been photographing top level cycling and the amount of iconic images he had in his picture library. When we tell you he has covered Le Tour de France 43 times, we kid you not!

“We decided that we just had to make some of these images available to all and sundry and what better way to do it than with a calendar. We had to have some kind of theme and settled on providing a page/month which depicted a jersey from our retro peloton.

“We duly made an agreement with John to use these images and to say that we were pleased with the results would be an understatement. Not only are the pictures unique and very evocative but John’s recall of the moment when he took the picture and the equipment used is remarkable, almost like it was yesterday.

Delivery is expected 10 December, and Prendas are accepting pre-orders. Head to www.prendas.co.uk to get yours now.