This afternoon the 100th Giro d’Italia kicked off with a spectacular team time trial through the streets of Venice.
To the surprise of many, there were enough roads on Venezia Lido, the island where the film festival takes place, to make up a decent 21km course. It was very flat and straight but it looked great on tv.
There was only one problem: Bottecchia was missing again.
The passionate Bottecchia tifosi are tired of being offered news of the company’s exploits in minor races like the Giro delle Pesche Nettarine di Romagna, a tour dedicated to central Italian Peaches and Nectarines. It’s about time there was a professional squad prepared to bring back Bottecchia to the cutting edge of world cycling.
Cringe as speed-thirsty Italian Bottecchia rider ‘Il barone’ (The Baron) tries to breakaway from the pack in his shiny new bike. Even the guy with the bikecam manages to catch him up…
Great photo of the new Pinarello FP3 in Pez Cycling news. Wow, it has “adrenalina italiana” and a neat heraldic stem. What a classy piece of Italian cycling craftspersonship.
The made in Taiwan sticker does seem slightly out of place…
Tap your feet to the latest in Milano hipster sounds as a discerning bike owner rides his Bottecchia around the bright lights of the festive Northern Italian city.
Legal battle over Bianchi’s rights to continue using the famous brand
An example of Bianchi's Legnano production
According to the Italian press, the Bozzi family is attempting to revoke Bianchi’s right to use the famous Legnano brand name and reassign to the new company Bicitaliana srl. The Eco di Bergamo reports that the family believes that their inheritance has been devalued under Bianchi’s use. Bianchi is fighting the attempt and has obtained an injunction from the Tribunale di Milano.
However, there are completely different new Legnano bikes on display this week at Bianchi’s stand at the Salone del Ciclo 2008 in Milan. In practice, although Legnano became famous for its use in road racing by the great Fausto Coppi, the current management of Bianchi has been using it for their cheapest models. Compare, for example, the low end specification of the only Legnano road bike currently available with the long list of Bianchi models. Even the cheapest Bianchi model is significantly more sophisticated.
The lack of information from the company, especially for those of us hoping for a dramatic improvement in its products, is disappointing given that the major road bike producers like Wilier Triestina have already started to aggressively market their 2009 models. What we can expect when the news finally comes out however is that the advertising and bikes will feature some meaningless phrases like “built with Italian passion” and “Italian design.”
Be impressed as cyclist from Hackney tries to convince you to buy his Bottecchia bike for only £1500 (mudguards not included). As he will point out numerous times in the space of under 2 minutes, there are Dura Ace components. Wow! However, it does seem to be one of the mysterious Bottecchia USA models…
A sad story for the rider, the entire professional category, and especially the cycling star system. I’m watching the stage on Italian tv at a bar in Cuneo right now and the commentators are shocked: “Whenever we begin to enjoy a rider…”
The only funny aspect is that, by leaving a big race like this, he has achieved his goal of following in the footsteps of Marco Pantani sooner than anyone thought.
The News section at Cicli Bottecchia’s official site says there is “no news”. Glad to see that nothing is happening in the world of cycling right now. So much for that Tour de France…
