Without going too far into the way-back machine, Pinarello began its World Domination Tour in 1975 when Fausto Bertoglio won the Giro d’Italia. Giovanni Battaglin won another Pink Jersey in the 1981 Giro and it’s been a long string of podiums, victories and gold medals ever since. Olympic glory came in 1984 when American legend Alexi Grewal rode a Pinarello to victory in the road race in the Los Angeles Games.
The big one, however, came in 1988 when Pedro Delgado won Pinarello’s first Tour de France. In 33 editions of the Tour de France since 1988, a Pinarello bicycle has been beneath the winner of the Yellow Jersey a whopping 16 times.
From Delgado to Miguel Indurain to Bjarn Riis to Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel, the 1990s were dominated by riders aboard Pinarello bikes. The turn of the century saw Pinarello take a break from World Tour crushing although Zabel picked up a handful of sprint points jerseys in the Vuelta Espana and Tour de France while Ullrich claimed a gold medal in the Sydney, Australia Olympic Games in the cycling road race.
After a Tour de France championship by Oscar Pereiro in 2006, Pinarello saw success in the United States as the sponsor of the Bissell Pro Cycling team and quietly set the stage for an explosion of unstoppable cycling performances that have rarely been seen.