Bianchi (cycling team)
Bianchi refers to cycling teams that are or have been maintained or supported by the Italian bicycle manufacturer FIV Edoardo Bianchi SpA .
description
The Bianchi company is one of the most traditional sponsors of road cycling . Since 1905 the company has sponsored and outfitted professional teams almost without interruption . From the 1950s onwards, Bianchi usually acted as one of two main sponsors. In addition, Bianchi increasingly equipped teams without acting as the main sponsor himself.
On racing bikes of the brand Bianchi many significant, mostly Italian, drove cyclist . Costante Girardengo achieved his first great success for the brand with his Giro d'Italia victory in 1919. Fausto Coppi is the most famous Bianchi driver , who with his great successes (including two wins at the Tour de France , five wins at the Giro d ' Italia, two world championship titles ) helped establish the legendary reputation of the celestial-colored bicycles. Other world champions on Bianchi were Felice Gimondi in 1973 , Moreno Argentin in 1986 and Gianni Bugno in 1992 . In 1998 Marco Pantani won the Giro and the Tour de France one after the other in the Mercatone Uno-Bianchi team.
Since the 1990s, the company has been focusing more and more on mountain bike competitions, where it has won multiple world championships and world cups.
List of Bianchi teams (selection)
- Bianchi 1905–1948 (with Fausto Coppi, among others )
- Bianchi-Pirelli 1949–1959 (with Fausto Coppi, among others )
- Bianchi-Mobylette 1965–1966
- Bianchi-Campagnolo 1973–1977 (with Rik Van Linden, among others )
- Bianchi-Piaggio 1980-1984
- Gewiss-Bianchi 1987–1989 (with Moreno Argentin, among others )
- Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 1998–1999 (with Marco Pantani, among others )
- Team Bianchi 2003, the successor to Team Coast (with Jan Ullrich, among others )
- Alessio-Bianchi 2004 (with Magnus Bäckstedt, among others)
- Liquigas-Bianchi 2005-2006 (among others with Danilo di Luca )
Sporting successes on Bianchi bikes (selection)
Racing bike
- 12 wins at the Giro d'Italia
- 3 victories in the Tour de France
- 19 wins at Milan-San Remo
- 16 wins at the Giro di Lombardia
- 7 wins at Paris – Roubaix
- 4 wins at Liège – Bastogne – Liège
- 4 victories at the Flèche Wallonne
- 3 wins in the Amstel Gold Race
- 4 Grand Prix victories
- 2 victories at the Vuelta a España
- 2 victories at the Tour de Suisse
- 2 wins at the Deutschland Tour
- 4 road world championship titles
- 4 world championship titles on the track
- 1 victory in the Tour of the Basque Country
Mountain bike
- 1 Olympic Champion Athens 2004
- 8 world championship titles
- 12 European championship titles
- 23 national championship titles
- 137 First places
Important successes in detail
In 1940 Fausto Coppi won the Giro d'Italia. In 1942 he set a world hour record. In 1947 he became world champion and won the Giro for the second time. In 1949 he became the first rider to win the Tour de France and the Giro in one year. In the same year he was still world pursuit champion. In 1952 he won the Giro and Tour again and in 1953 again Giro and the World Championship.
Eddy Merckx drove on Bianchi until 1971 .
In 1991 Bruno Zanchi became Downhill World Champion and in 1993 Dario Acquaroli became Cross Country World Champion.
In 1998 Marco Pantani won the Giro and the Tour de France, Stefano Garzelli the Tour de Suisse, Marco Velo became Italian time trial champion and the Martini team won several competitions in downhill and cross country.
In 1999 Marco Velo defended his title and the Martini Racing mountain bike team was again very successful.
In 2000 Stefano Garzelli won the Giro and Velo was once again the Italian time trial champion. The mountain bikers were also successful again. Jose Antonio Hermida from the Bianchi Motorex Team became World Champion, European Champion and won the World Cup. The French master and Acquaroli the Italian master was completed.
In 2001 Marco Velo won the time trial again, the MTB team was the world leader in the World Cup and European Championship with José Antonio Hermida and Julien Absalon .
In 2002, Team Coast on Bianchi and Alex Zülle achieved 21 victories on the road . The MTB team Motorex-Bianchi around Felice Gimondi managed a total of 21 victories, including the world championship.
In 2003, after 19 years, Bianchi became the sole bicycle sponsor of a professional team. Jan Ullrich achieved a second place behind Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France . When it comes to mountain bikes, the Bianchi Motorex team dominates the scene.
In 2004 Julien Absalon won the Olympic gold medal in cross-country and also became world champion. In road racing, Magnus Bäckstedt from the Alessio-Bianchi Paris-Roubaix team wins and Cristian Moreni becomes Italian champion.