- Italy is well known for its cycling passion,
its immensely rich heritage making arguably
the spiritual home of the sport that we all love.
Now along with some of the most stunning roads,
amazing cuisine, and greatest cycling legends,
Italy has produced some of the finest bicycles
that have ever been ridden.
And here's a look at four of the most iconic
Italian cycling brands.
Bianchi is the oldest bicycle firm in the world
still in business today, founded by Edoardo Bianchi
way back in 1885.
Now as well as its rich tradition,
more so than any other bicycle company,
Bianchi bikes are synonymous with one colour:
celeste, a pale turquoise.
Bianchi sponsored their first professional rider,
Giavanni Tomasello, in 1899, and 15 years later,
the company were producing 45,000 bicycles a year,
as well as 1500 motorbikes and 1,000 cars.
And by 1935 they were selling an astonishing
70,000 bikes a year.
In 1939 Bianchi bikes were the first to use
Campagnolo's new invention, a rod-operated
gear-changing system called the Cambio Coursa,
with a derailleur situated on the rear stay,
that shifted the chain to the four available sprockets
at the back.
And in the same year, Giuseppe Olmo
also set a new world hour record
onboard a Bianchi.
Success continued when Fausto Coppi
signed to the Bianchi team in 1940.
And in 1949, the "Champion of Champions,"
as he was known, became the first ever rider to win
the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year,
cementing himself and the Bianchi brand,
in the annuals of cycling history.
As well as Coppi, Bianchi has been associated
with other cycling greats, such as Felice Gimondi,
Laurent Fignon, Gianni Bugno, and Marco Pantani,
who rode his custom aluminium Mega Pro XL Reparto Corseto,
to give its full name, to a famous
Giro d'Italia / Tour de France double in 1998,
the last rider to achieve this Herculean feat,
and the last rider to win the Tour de France
on an aluminium frame.
Now Pantani was obsessive about the geometry of his bike,
and in one season rode 30 different frames,
each one slightly different.
The distinctive celeste can still be seen
in the palette on it today, ridden by
Dutch World Tour Team Lotto NL-Jumbo,
who have three different road frames to choose from,
in the Oltre, Specialissima, and Infinito models.
Now you may be wondering about the origins
of the distinctive Bianchi crest.
Well this came about in the early 1890s
when Edoardo Bianchi taught Queen Margherita
how to ride a bike, and for his troubles
was given a royal appointment, or seal,
allowing him to place the Bianchi coat of arms
on each frame.
(upbeat Italian music)
Colnago was founded in Cambiago, Italy,
in 1952 by Ernesto Colnago, and quickly built
a reputation as one of the finest builders
of custom road frames in the world.
With Luigi Ariento winning the gold medal
at the road race in the 1960 Olympic Games
onboard a Colnago.
As well as running the company,
Ernesto was head mechanic of the Molteni team,
and the win by Michele Dancelli in the 1970 Milan-San Remo
sparked inspiration for the famous
Asso di Fiori, or Ace of Clubs logo.
In 1971 a certain Eddie Merckx joined the Molteni team,
and worked closely with Ernesto
on developing the bikes that he rode,
the highlight being the Super light steel Colnago
used in 1972 to famously break the world hour record.
This success led to the company
jumping into the market for production bikes,
fueled by a bike boom in the early 1970s,
which saw the introduction of the centrepiece models,
the Super and the Mexico, in honour of the hour record.
They continued to innovate too, experimenting
with ways of increasing frame stiffness by using
oval and crimped tubing frames with Columbus tubing,
which led to the famous Master range,
Giuseppi Saronne winning the Pro World Road Race in 1982
on such a frame.
Through the '80s and the '90s,
Colnago continued to explore construction and frame design,
with the introduction in 1994 of
their first ever carbon-fiber frame, the C40,
built from carbon tubes using light steel lugs.
The C40 was an instant hit,
defying performance expectations
and winning Paris-Roubaix on five occasions
from 1995 to 2000, with Mapei riders
Johan Museeuw, Franco Ballerini, and Andrea Tafi.
Further iterations of the carbon frame followed,
with each one raising the bar for excellence,
the bikes highly sought after.
In 2014 they collaborated with Ferrari on the V1R aero bike,
the second time they had worked with the luxury sports brand
after working on carbon fibre technology with them
in the 1980s.
Their bikes continue to be ridden at the top level,
with the UAE Emirates team now using
the C60 and Concept aero frames
with the likes of Alexander Kristoff,
Dan Martin, and Fabio Aru.
(upbeat Italian music)
Pinarello was founded back in 1953
by former professional Giovanni Pinarello,
who started out with a small workshop
hand-building bikes in Treviso.
In 1961 Cicli Pinarello, as it was known then,
sponsored their first ever rider, Guido de Rosso,
who won that year's Tour de l'Avenir
on a cream and blue Pinarello steel.
1975 saw Pinarello take their maiden Giro d'Italia win,
with Fausto Bertoglio onboard a special steel model
with Columbus tubing.
And 13 years later in 1988, they made history
when Spaniard Pedro Delgado captured
their first of 13 Tour de France victories,
although he was actually riding in the mountains
on an aluminum-lugged, carbon-tubed TVT92,
badged up as a Treviso.
Throughout the 1980s the brand was most famed
for its Montello SLX frame, which,
courtesy of U.S. rider Alexi Grewal, claimed road race gold
at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Whilst other popular models around this time
were the all-steel Treviso and Gavia.
In an effort to match success on the road,
Pinarello also explored the world of time-trial machines,
experimenting with curved tubing and innovative design,
launching their first low-profile machine
with the striking Prologo in 1988.
The arrival of Miguel Indurain to the world stage in 1991
thrust Pinarello to new heights,
the Spaniard winning five back-to-back Tour de Frances
on a series of custom Pinarellos,
with 1994 being the last year
that the Tour would be won on a steel bike.
In '95 Indurain rode an aluminium
Keral Lite frame to his final win,
with Bjarne Riis taking the '96 edition on the same frame,
whilst Jan Ulrich completed a remarkable run
of seven straight wins for the mark with victory
in the 1997 Tour astride a custom TIG-welded
aluminium Pinarello Paris with Columbus tubing.
The foray into TT frame design continued
through the 1990s and bore rich fruit,
aided by Indurain's otherworldly physiology,
with the unveiling of the company's
first full-carbon TT bike, the Espada, in 1994,
upon which Indurain smashed the world hour record
and piloted a road version to devastating effect
in time trials.
Into the new millennium,
and the new generation of primarily carbon-fiber frames
were ushered in with the Prince,
and more recently the Dogma range
that saw Bradley Wiggins win the 2012 Tour de France.
Four Tour de France victories
courtesy of Chris Froome followed since,
the latest being in 2017 on the new flagship F10.
(Italian electroacoustic music)
A truly celebrated, but now almost forgotten Italian brand,
the Legnano legend dates back to 1902,
with the Vittorio Rossi & Company,
who produced bicycles in Milan
with the brand name "Lignon."
A few years later, the company was acquired
by Emilio Bozzi, who in 1906 established
what was to become one of the most successful
professional cycling teams in history,
the Legnano Cycling Team, that ran until 1966.
The highly regarded Legnano bikes were defined by
their distinctive colour, known as "Lizard Yellow,"
and unique frame design, where the seat clamp
was nestled to the front of the seat tube
just underneath the top tube.
In 1920 Bozzi adopted the figure
of Alberto da Guissano, the iconic Lombard warrior,
to symbolise the Legnano brand.
His image cast in a brass stamping
and riveted to the head tube
would adorn their bicycles for the next 50 years.
The fortunes of the brand changed forever in 1924,
when the team signed young upcoming star Alfredo Binda
to a lifetime contract.
It was a stroke of business genius,
as Binda would go on to incredible success,
with palmarès including five editions of the Giro d'Italia,
three World Road titles, four Tour of Lombardis,
and two editions of Milan-San Remo.
In fact Binda was so dominant that the Giro organisers
paid him the equivalent of winning the Giro overall
to stay away from the 1930 edition of the race
in order to reinvigorate interest
in what had become almost a one-man show.
Binda went on to win the race for the fifth time in 1933.
This ushered in a golden era for Legnano,
with the signings of Gino Bartali in 1936
and Fausto Coppi in 1939.
After forming one of the most potent
yet combustible duos in history, the pair split in 1942,
when Coppi left to ride for fierce rival Bianchi,
splitting a nation into two camps in the process.
This rivalry continued after World War II,
with Bartoli taking a truly epic win
in the 1948 Tour de France onboard a Legnano Roma
with Campagnolo rod-activated rear derailleur.
After the retirement of Bartoli at the end of 1954,
the fortunes of Legnano gradually faded
over the following years, save for the gold medal
at the 1956 Olympic road race, with Ercole Baldini.
The company struggled through the 1960s and '70s
before being bought by longtime rival Bianchi in 1987.
And a final glorious hurrah, when Maurizio Fondriest
won the pro World Road title in Ronse, Belgium.
The Legnano brand still lives on in name today,
owned by Cycleurope.
There are some really interesting stories there.
I certainly learned a lot; I certainly hope you did too.
But what I'd like to know is, what iconic cycling brands
you'd like to see in future videos.
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