Pinarello road bike history

Mar 4, 2024 7 min

Important info about the Italian bike manufacturer

Taking part is everything, according to the Olympic idea. Giovanni Pinarello, the founder of one of the most critical sports bike brands of our time, held somewhat less of the most essential principle of the sports world. His motto? Participation alone does not count; you have to win.

Giovanni could not quite live up to his motto in cycling, as you will find out later, but he did very well in manufacturing bicycles that broke records. Hardly any bicycle brand can write so many Grand Tour victories on the cap and the frame as Pinarello. Today, we dive into the history of the creators of the Dogma and the Prince: Road free for Pinarello!

This May, pictures of Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot at the French MTB Championships surprised many loyal Pinarello fans. The two rode a mountain bike prototype of the new Dogma XC, eleven years after the Italians last invested time, expertise, and research into a mountain bike.

The new cross-country bike is expected to be available before the 2024 Summer Olympics, and the first images tell us that the asymmetrical frame will feature both an adjustable Flex-Stay suspension and a split rear end, which will probably soon be patented.

Check buycycle out now!

A new mountain bike, then, from the masters of the road bikes. Few bicycle brands have been as ambitious in their commitment to speed as Pinarello. They were the first to bring space technology to the world of bicycles, the only ones to have won a full 15 times the Tour de France and have been making sports history for over 70 years.

In 1952, the first Cicli Pinarello store opened in Treviso, Venice, but Giovanni Pinarello, then 30 years old, had long since become addicted to the cycling world. After all, he grew up in the golden age of Italian cycling, and from childhood, he was a fervent admirer of athletes such as Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi. He turned to amateur racing; in 1947, he even leapt the league of professional athletes.

A short leap that the 1951 Giro d'Italia abruptly ended. Giovanni, who believed in winning, not competing, was awarded the infamous maglia nera, the jersey, due to the one performing the worst. His team then unceremoniously abandoned him and replaced him with another promising young talent, but at least paid him a tidy severance package of 100,000 liras. The fallen athlete accepted the money, invested it in Cicli Pinarello and began to change the cycling world.

It can only be boldly surmised whether his incomparable ambition and bite sprang from this bitter defeat. The fact is that just ten years after the brand was founded, the first Tour winner wore the Pinarello jersey.

When Guido de Rosse won the 1961 Tour de l'Avenir, it was only a slight foreshadowing of the slew of gold medals that would follow in the decades. - Alice Huot @ buycycle

Then, in 1975, Giovanni Battaglin wore the Maglia Rosa for five days on a Pinarello, and in 1981 he emerged as the overall winner of the Giro on the same bike. The 80s, already so gloriously started, became one of the most exciting decades for the manufacturer.

Battaglin and the Giro, Alexi Grewal winning Olympic gold in 1984, Pedro Delgado winning the Tour de France for Pinarello in 1988.... Giovanni had finally arrived at the top of cycling, although differently than expected. A fitting time, then, to pass on his sceptre to his son, Fausto Pinarello, who still runs the company today.

With legendary athlete Miguel Indurain and engineer Marco Giachi, the Italians opened the next chapter in their history under Fausto's leadership. Giachi moved from Formula 1 hero Lamborghini to Pinarello. Speed was his passion, and he brought the racing circuits' expertise and working methods to the Treviso factory.

So he began designing and testing bikes in wind tunnels, experimenting with carbon fibers, creating the famous Pinarello Espada, on which then four-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain set the world time trial record in 1994. A year later, again on an Espada, he followed his fifth Tour de France victory.

Giachi's innovations were instrumental in shaping Pinarello's successes in the 1990s. Jan Ulrich and Bjarne Riis' Tour de France victory and the Telekom Team's 1999 World Championship can also be traced back to him and his Pinarello Paris.

Speed is and remains everything for Pinarello, which builds racing bikes that are agile but stable, aerodynamic and innovative, light and cornering. With them, you equally conquer climbing stages and wide, endless asphalt tracks. However, the new Dogma XC and the E-bike line of the manufacturer prove that the Italians do not rest on their laurels, but race full speed into the future.

The Pinarello Nytro e-bikes, for example, are everything a road bike should be, but add the power of an ultra-light 360 Wh battery that allows for up to 300 watts of boost. And that's without the frame even suggesting that the Nytro isn't a classic Pinarello bike.

Since 2016, Pinarello has been part of the luxury group LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton SE, but its headquarters are still in humble Treviso, where it all began in 1952. Pinarello wins, with everything. They have brought space technology to the cycling world, and probably no other brand has the ambitious sporting idea so deeply rooted in its DNA.

World champion Pinarello bikes are eh. But they are also relatively affordable, because the top bikes of the pros are regularly replaced and can then be obtained as used top bikes, also at buycycle. So, look at our website or app, maybe you will find the Pinarello of your dreams! If you have any further questions about bicycles, it's worth looking at the blog or asking the buycycle team. Until then, we wish you, as always, happy browsing and cycling!

Go to buycycle

Road bike buying guides

Road bikeleaped reviews

Top road bikes

Road bike sizing guides

History & brands

Road bike gear guides

Road bike selling guide

How to sell your old road bike?

Road bike winter cycling

Buying guide

Brands guide

Where to buy a bike?

Sizing guide