The third season of Netflix’s hit eighties science fiction-horror series Stranger Things has been released on July 4th and as usual, is full of intriguing surprises and throwbacks to pop culture. One that has been noticed by many classic cycling lovers concerned Lucas, the character interpreted by Caleb McLaughlin, who, during the fourth episode, appears with a different cap from the usual ones. He is sporting a cycling cap of the Italian cycling Ariostea team.
Ceramiche Ariostea is a company from of Castellarano (Reggio Emilia) that makes marble, stone, wood, porcelain, and ceramic floor and wall tiles. From 1984 to 1993 the company has been the main sponsor of the professional cycling team that took its name. This means that the costume designers carefully checked the dates before indulging in the pop culture reference, in fact, the cycling team was founded in the year during which the first season of the series takes place while the third one takes place on July 1985.
Ariostea team first major victories were the two stage wins at the 1986 Giro d’Italia and the highest placed Ariostea rider in the general classification was Alfio Vandi, who finished 11th in 1986. In the 1990s, one of its most successful riders was Rolf Sørensen who won Paris–Tours in 1990 and the 1992 Tirreno–Adriatico. Its rider Moreno Argentin won the 1990 Tour of Flanders and the team won a stage of the Tour and two at the Giro that year.
Even at Ceramiche Ariostea they were surprised to spot the cap of their team while watching ‘Stranger Things’ and they wrote it on their Facebook page and, now that it has made an appearance on the show, probably many classic cycling fans would love to buy the vintage cap.