Pinarello It is bicycles that Ferrari is cars. What cyclist wouldn't want to go on a route with the group wearing a pinelle?
The Italian brand has become the object of desire of thousands of cyclists worldwide. They are elegant bicycles, of refined lines and since the 1990s they have dominated the podium of the Tour de France.
Perico Delgado, Miguel Induráin, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal are some of the cyclists who have dressed the yellow jersey in the Eliseos fields of Paris with a pinelle.
But the truth is that the origin of this Italian brand is not at the top of the podium, but was born following the dismissal of the last winner of the
Maglia Nera of the turn. This jersey was reserved for the last classified of the general.
The Maglia Nera
Giovanni Pinarello was an Italian cyclist from 1940 and 1950. He ran alongside Coppi, Bartali and Bobet during the call Era
Eroic of cycling. However, unlike his compatriots, he was not a successful corridor.
Although he won more than 60 races at the amateur level, as a professional he reaped a discreet palm tree. However, in the middle of the rivalry between Coppi and Bartali, his charisma made him very popular among the fans and won the sympathies of the media.
In 1951, Giovanni Pinarello finished the Italian turn as the last classified of the general. By the then who ended last was dressed in the
Maglia Nera (Black jersey) and was invited to go around honor with the champion. Precisely that year was the last one in which this black jersey was delivered.
It was also the last year that Giovanni Pinarello participated in the turn, since the following year his team dismissed him so that his place was occupied by a Coppi partner who had been fired from the Bianchi team.
The settlement, to make bicycles
The dismissal of the team was the farewell of Giovanni Pinarello of professional cycling. But also the beginning of one of the most prestigious bicycle brands in the world.
They gave him 100,000 lires for his dismissal, which was a fortune for the time. And Giovanni decided to invest in a workshop for the manufacture of bicycles in the town of Treviso.
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The Pinello Acciaio Columbus by Franco Chioccioli.[/caption]
From the beginning its goal was to create lighter and faster bicycles. However, they had to spend some years to begin harvesting hits on the roads.
In 1961 Cicli Pinarello - that was the official name of the brand - sponsored its first cycling career to break down gradually as a supplier for professional cyclists of the time. And in 1975 Pinarello won his first victory in the Tour of Italy.
The 'sword' of Induráin
The jump of
Pinarello bicycles In professional cycling it occurred in the 1980s, by the hand of two stars: Alexis Grewal and Perico Delgado.
The first won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games (1984) riding a Pinarello bicycle. Four years later, Perico Delgado was proclaimed champion of the Tour de France with a bicycle of tubes as fine as his last name.
The 1990s was the great domain of Pinarello in the international squad. The Italian brand was the bicycle supplier of the Banesto team with which Miguel Induráin won five consecutive tours.
The image of 'Miguelón' pedaling on the Burry Bicycle as Pinarello designed exclusively for him is part of the history of this sport.
[IRP posts = "2705" name = "5 times when Induráin left us with your mouth open"]
With the mythical
Sword, as this bicycle was called, Induráin starred in one of the greatest exhibitions in the history of the Tour de France. It was in the counterreloj stage of the 1994 tour between Périgeux and Bergerac.
There were 64 kilometers to fight the chrono that Induráin completed at a rate of more than 50 kilometers per hour.
His exhibition was such that at kilometer 15 he already took Tony Rominger a minute, his main rival. And in the 17 he folded to Lance Armstrong, then world champion!
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Photo credits: Eric Budas (Creative Commons License)[/caption]
Induráin's deed with
Sword Pinarello at that stage made the French media nickname
Bergerac tyrant. A few months later, and after winning the room of his five tours, Navarro beat the record of the time at the controls of the
Sword.
[IRP posts = "3396" name = "The incredible story of Graeme Obree, 'The Flying Scottish'"]
From Sky Telekom
In addition to his relationship with Banesto, Pinarello decided to join a German team that at that time had run out of sponsor.
It was nothing less than the Team Telekom by Bjarne Rijs and Jan Ullrich, who would end up being the great dominator of the platoon during the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000.
In addition, he also equipped the cyclists of the Italian Fassa Bortolo team, so that the Pinarello bicycles continued to climb to the top of the podium in the great races.
In the Sydney Olympic Games, the three cyclists who won gold, silver and bronze rode a pinello bicycle (Ullrich, Vinokourov and Kloden).
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The Pinello Dogma with which Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France 2012.[/caption]
In recent years, Pinarello's relationship with the Tour de France has intensified from the hand of Team Sky. Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas wore the yellow jersey in the Eliseos fields in Paris with a Pinarello bicycle.
Egan Bernal, winner of the 2019 Tour with the Team Ineos, gave Pinarello his fourteenth Tour of France.
Innovation in DNA
In addition to the elegance of their designs, competition and innovation have always been present in the DNA of Pinello bicycles.
Its most representative model, the Pinarello Dogma, stands out for being the first asymmetric bicycle produced in series. The tubes on each side are designed with different lengths to compensate for pedaling forces.
Another prominent element of the design of pinello bicycles are their saber -shaped forks.
Giovanni Pinarello died in 2014. As a cyclist, his most remembered milestone was the
Maglia Nera which wrapped in the 1951 turn after being last classified. As a bicycle manufacturer, his legacy is to have created one of the most competitive and winning marks of the road cycling, desired by both professional cyclists and amateurs.
Main models of pinello bicycles:
