A tour through Pinarello’s winning history

Set up like multiple rows of "Hollywood Squares," Pinarello’s history display at the Expobici show in Padua took up an entire room. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

The start of it all: the 1951 black jersey. In the 34th edition of the Giro d’Italia and riding this Bottechia, Pinarello Cicli S.p.A. founder Giovanni “Nani” Pinarello finished in last place, a distinction that at the time was honored with the black jersey. Since the age of 15, Pinarello had worked as a framebuilder at Paglianti, and the year after his Giro “success,” his team paid him 100,000 Lire not to ride, instead substituting Pasquale Fornara on its Giro squad. Giovanni took the money and founded Pinarello Cicli S.p.A. in 1952. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

The career pinnacle of Del Tongo’s Franco Chioccioli was his victory in the 1991 Giro, and his Scott aero bars on his curved-tube Columbus Nivachrome steel time trial machine raised eyebrows. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Bjarne Riis’ Parigina TT bike, part of his arsenal for his 1996 Tour victory. The plaque says it’s carbon, but it sure looks like aluminum to me. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

In 1993, Miguel Indurain’s time trial stage wins on this Chrono Indu carbon time trial machine were keys to his overall victories in both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. His road bike for these events, however, was still a lugged steel Pinarello. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

This carbon Parigina pursuit bike carried Andrea Collinelli to the Olympic pursuit gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta as well as to the team pursuit world championship in Manchester, England, with his Italian squad, prior to the UCI banning both the “superman” position he used as well as many design elements of the bike. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

In the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Jan Ullrich was aboard this aluminum and carbon Pinarello when he collected the road race gold medal. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Miguel Indurain was always dominant in time trials, and in 1995, this steel TT bike brought him to his fifth straight Tour de France victory as well as the rainbow jersey of world time trial champion. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Ivan Basso rode to seventh in the Tour in 2003 on this magnesium Dogma with carbon seatstays, and it was this bike model which that year carried the Fassa Bortolo team to the top of the UCI team standings and rolled Alessandro Petacchi across the line first four times in the Tour, five times in the Vuelta, and a record seven times in the Giro d’Italia. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Alejandro Valverde’s 2006 carbon Paris carried him to victories that year in the Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Mark Cavendish’s 2012 carbon Dogma2 carried him to a number of victories in dramatic fashion. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

The evolution of carbon Pinarello time trial bikes. The one on the upper right with the split chainstay is famous more for Bjarne Riis flinging it in frustration after multiple flats in a time trial in a Tour that was not going his way, than for teammate Jan Ullrich’s overall Tour victory, including time trial successes on the wild-looking carbon creation. Shortly thereafter, the UCI instituted technical rules for bikes that put a stop to designs of this type. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

In 1981, Inoxpran’s Giovanni Battaglin conquered both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, choosing a superlight Pinarello Tre Cime for the steepest climbs. This bike was built with super-thinwall Columbus KL tubing and equipped with a triple front chainring. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Conforming with UCI rules for more conventional time trial bike designs than those of Indurain, Ullrich, and Riis, Bradley Wiggins nevertheless showed that he was the boss of the time trials riding this carbon Pinarello Graal on his way to winning the 2012 Tour. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

In 1994, without any Obree “egg” or “superman” position, Miguel Indurain rode this carbon Parigina pursuit bike further in an hour than anyone had before, setting a new hour record. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

In 1999, Alex Zulle’s aluminum Chrono Alu time trial bike was under him when the Banesto captain placed second to Lance Armstrong in the Tour, a victory that has since been vacated. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

This lugged steel Pinarello notched the first Giro d’Italia win for the company, in 1975 under Jolly Ceramica’s Fausto Bertoglio. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Pinarello has so much grand tour-winning history, it’s a shame to keep all of these bikes that have won the biggest races in the world stored away, gathering dust. We got to see them at Pinarello’s nearby show in Padua, just 65km from the company’s home base in Treviso. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

In its own, separate, giant cubicle, far away in another hall, Bradley Wiggins’ 2012 Tour-winning yellow Dogma2 gleams with a video of Mark Cavendish sprinting in the background. Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com

Well there you go — think that way! Photo: Lennard Zinn | VeloNews.com