We've seen how they paint the bikes...Fausto Pinarello himself explained their unique "second cure"...and today, he walks us through the final assembly process at Pinarello HQ in Italy.
It's a private tour of a place that very few outsiders ever see, but Fausto admits in the following CycleTo video, "There is no secret here."
We have a way for everyone to stay involved with the Tour de France, and win some great free stuff at the same time.
Every day during the Tour, CycleTo will be giving away a free pair of custom CycleTo socks from Beaker Concepts.
But you've got to earn 'em.
Here's the deal.
We'll be running a daily contest, to pick the winner of that day's stage of the Tour. And the winner will get free CycleTo cycling socks. And at the end of the Tour we'll be giving away a white, short-sleeved CycleTo jersey. Sound interesting?
They have the most distinctive shape in the peloton. Even if you can't see the name on the frame, you can spot the look of a Pinarello from far away.
It's hard to miss the unique geometry and swooping curves of the Pinarello bicycles. But there's more than just Italian style behind these unique features...there's loads of science and R&D, too.
In the second of our three part look inside the Pinarello headquarters in Italy, Fausto Pinarello explains the thinking behind the "second curve"...in the following CycleTo video.
He is a soft-spoken man, with a big impact on the sport.
Fausto Pinarello has worked in the family bicycle business near Treviso, Italy for the past 30 years. He's seen bikes evolve from basic steel to high-tech carbon...from just a few gears to 11-speed cassettes...and from hundreds to thousands of dollars apiece.
But through it all, his passion for the sport, and the machines, has grown even stronger. Today, he oversees every aspect of the fine, hand-made Italian bike building business that bears his name.
We were given a rare opportunity to visit and tour the Pinarello facilities in Italy, and in the first of our three part series, Fausto himself shows us his favorite part of what it takes to make a Pinarello...in the following CycleTo video.
You've seen all kinds of coverage of Lance Armstrong's win last Sunday at the Nevada City Classic, and by know your know the basics...20,000 fans, Lance wins the race, the place goes nuts, etc etc. Nearly every story focused on Armstrong and his achievement.
But this story is different. In in this one, Lance is only a bit player.
This is the story of an 18-year-old bike racer and his father, and how both were able to live out a dream.
Almost lost in all the hubbub surrounding Lance Armstrong's win in the Nevada City Classic was the performance of Proman women's cycling star Shelley Olds.
Olds used perfect Proman team tactics, and powered away from the field to win the women's featured race at Nevada City.
How dominating was Shelley's performance? She beat the second-place finisher, current US national criterium champion Brooke Miller, by more than two full minutes. And the Proman team had three of the top five finishers. Pretty impressive.
Want to see more? Check out the photos from the women's race at the Nevada City Classic, below.
It pains me to admit that we will not be in France this July, to bring you stories from the Tour de France.
The response to our coverage from the Giro d'Italia in May was fantastic...and very gratifying. Thousands and thousands of people visited CycleTo every day during the Giro, for a look at our original, unique stories, photos and videos. And the feedback that we received told us that we were doing the right thing, in the right way.
But you won't be seeing anything from us at the Tour.
Why?
Two reasons. The ASO, the group that owns and organizes the Tour, has received more than 4,000 requests for media credentials for the race, and so far, they've already rejected 2,000 of those requests.
They have not formally told us that we will not be receiving media credentials, but even if we are granted access inside the barricades at the Tour, we still might not go. Why? We've learned that if we want to shoot video...any video...at the race, we must pay a fee of 7,000 Euros...that's about 10,000 US Dollars. The Giro d'Italia, Tour of California and World Championship races don't charge a fee for pre-and-post-race video coverage. This is an outrageous demand from the Tour de France, and it just doesn't pass the smell test.
Not having a presence at the world's biggest bike race is killing us. But we're not about to crash a party when we're not invited.
We welcome your comments...you can email us here:
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In the womens's Northstar circuit race at the Tour de Nez, it looked like TIBCO's Alison Starnes had the field covered. Starnes roared away from the pack, and won the race going away.
...but there was a problem.
In some short-course races, there's the "free lap" rule...if a rider has a crash, or a mechanical problem, they can get things back together, then wait for the pack to come around again, and rejoin in the group. Starnes had a mechanical, got it fixed, took a free lap, and went on to win.
But after the race, before the podium presentation, Alison was informed that there were no free laps at this race. She was put one lap down, and the win...and the overall Tour de Nez title...went to her TIBCO teammate Amber Rais.
Sound complicated? Alison explains it all, in the following CycleTo video.
After Lance Armstrong won the Nevada City Classic on Sunday, he took a slow, deliberate victory lap around the 1.1 mile course.
About halfway through the route, Levi Leipheimer joined Lance. They congratulated each other, slapped hands and rode side-by-side all the way to the finish line.
...and we have it all on video.
Mechanic Eric Brandt was working the race for SRAM. He was on the moto for the closing laps of the race, and Eric and moto driver Chris Kelly rode along with Lance and Levi on the victory lap.
Eric carried his small "Flip" camera, and recorded the moment when Levi caught up to Lance. He agreed to share it with all of you on CycleTo. It's a priceless moment, caught on camera, in the following CycleTo video.
It's become known simply as "Lance-mania"...the emotion, energy and excitement that surround any race that Lance Armstrong enters.
Sunday at the Nevada City Classic, the maniacs were out in full-force. Huge crowds lined the entire course, and when Lance won the race, the place just went nuts.
The post-race presentation in Nevada City was absolute pandemonium. Levi Leipheimer, Ben Jacques-Mayne and Lance had to push their way through the crowd just to make it to the podium.
Want to see what it was like? Check out the following CycleTo video.
