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TECH NEWS

Colnago exhibit one-off Mapei C59

...and produce special Marco Simoncelli commemorative bike plus one for Fernando Alonso too

Colnago surprised everyone at the at the EICMA, the international motorcycle exhibition currently taking place in Milan, with this splendid Mapei C59.

Why Mapei? During the 1990s Colnago supplied bikes for the iconic Mapei team - one of their greatest ever - with their colourful cubed jerseys. Colnago enjoyed much success during this partnership, which ended in 2002. There was Franco Ballerini’s victory in the 1996 edition of Paris-Roubaix, aboard a C40. Then in 1996, in the same race, Belgian Johan Museeuw headed a clean sweep of the podium . Many of the top racers of the past couple of decades pulled on a Mapei jersey at some point, like Cadel Evans, Jan Ullrich and Mario Copillini.

Don't rush out in the hope of buying one though, it's strictly a one-off and has been produced for the boss of Mapei, Mr Giorgio Squinzi.

Have a watch of this video to see that 1996 victory. It's something special.

Colnago exhibited another very special bike at the show. It’s been donated to the Marco Simoncelli foundation, set up in the name of the young Italian Moto GP racer who tragically died following an accident in the Malaysian Grand Prix  in 2011. It's going to be auctioned off to their charity and bids are apparently starting at €20,000.

They’ve painted a C59 Disc to commemorate Simoncelli with a graphic of the Moto GP racer in elegant full flight across the top tube. The typeface has changed from the standard issue and owes more to the bolder fonts often used in motorsport. The young racer's number, 58 is printed on the seat tube.

You can find out more about Marco and the work the foundation is doing here.

Finally, continuing the motorsport theme and the company’s long association with Ferrari, there's this one of a kind Colnago K Zero Ferrari for F1 driver Fernando Alonso.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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bikecellar | 11 years ago
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Mapei iconic? what a joke, great to watch, but their "preparation" was even then so ahead of the game to make it obvious what was going on. Looking back now they were taking the piss and showed the way for a certain LA.

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jamesfifield | 11 years ago
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Why didn't they spec the K Zero with the Campy TT crankset? That would be the only gripe I have with the whole bike though...

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NJA | 11 years ago
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I always thought Colnago were overpriced and overrated - that TT bike is very pretty though.

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