Cervélo Cycles is a Canadian manufacturer of racing bicycle frames. Cervélo uses CAD, computational fluid dynamics, and wind tunnel testing at a variety of facilities including the San Diego Air and Space Technology Center, in California, USA, to aid its designs. Frame materials include carbon fibre. Cervélo currently makes 3 series of road bikes: the R series, featuring multi-shaped, "Squoval" frame tubes; and the S series of road bikes and P series of triathlon/time trial bikes, both of which feature airfoil shaped down tubes. The company also manufactures T series track bikes.
Cervélo's sponsorshi1p of elite athletes has led to widespread recognition of the brand.
In 2003, Cervélo became the bike supplier to Team CSC, at the time the 14th team on the world ranking. Cervélo was by far the smallest and youngest bike company to ever supply a team at this level. Team CSC has been crowned the world’s #1 pro cycling team aboard Cervélo for three years. The partnership lasted for six years, until the end of 2008.
In 2009, Cervélo became the first bike manufacturer in the modern era to have its own cycling team at the highest levels of racing, Cervélo TestTeam. The team had a stated goal of not only competing successfully on the international level, but also encouraging collaboration between the team members, Cervélo, and other product sponsorship partners in order to develop better products. There was also a strong focus on fan interaction and experiences. The team's most renowned riders were 2008 Tour De France winner Carlos Sastre and 2010 World Champion and 2009 TdF Green Jersey winner Thor Hushovd. Heinrich Haussler also took many of the team's headlines, with his impressive performances at Paris–Nice, Milan – San Remo, and his stage win in the 2009 Tour de France (Stage 13, Colmar).
In 2010, Emma Pooley and Thor Hushovd won the UCI Women's Timetrial and UCI Men's Road Race respectively. Success was also achieved in a number of ITU Triathlon Races and the Ironman 70.3 and long distance events.
For the 2011 season Cervélo have joined forces with Slipstream sports to form the Garmin-Cervélo team which also includes a women's team.
The Cannondale Bicycle Corporation, is an American division of Canadian conglomerate Dorel Industries that supplies bicycles. It is headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut with manufacturing and assembly facilities in China and Taichunghe company was founded in 1971 by Joe Montgomery, Jim Catrambone and Ron Davis to manufacture backpacks and bags for camping and later bicycle trailers forbicycle touring.One of the most successful products was the Bugger, a child trailer, although Cannondale's marketing department seemed unaware of the connotations of the name in British English (some were, nevertheless, exported to the UK). Today, Cannondale produces many different types of high-end bicycles, few of which are handmade in USA, specializing in aluminum (rather than steel or titanium) and carbon fiberframes, a technology in which they were pioneers. The name of the company was taken from theCannondaleMetro Northtrain station inWilton, Connecticut.In the late 1990s Cannondale attempted to move into the motorsports business, producing a line of off-roadmotorcyclesandall-terrain vehicles. According to an interview with Cannondale Communications Director, Tom Armstrong, the company was unable to drive down the cost of their motor vehicles fast enough. Sales took off when the company was still losing money on each motorbike they shipped. This gap drove the company to seek bankruptcy protection in 2003, and to sell off the motorsport division. Cannondale's bicycle division was purchased in 2003 by Pegasus Capital Advisors, which supported the company's renewed focus on bicycle production.In February 2008, Cannondale was purchased fromPegasus Capital AdvisorsbyDorel Industries. In April 2009 it was announced that all production would be transferred to Taiwan.
-Sponsorship Cannondale's sponsorship of Division 1 road racing teams began with theSaecoteam in the late 1990s, highlighted byMario Cipollini's four consecutive stage wins in the1999 Tour de France. The team notably won the Giro d'Italia five times, in 1997 withIvan Gotti, in 2003 withGilberto Simoniin 2004 withDamiano Cunego. Saeco became Lampre-Caffita in 2005, and the relationship with Cannondale was severed.
In 2007, Cannondale became the bicycle sponsor to Liquigas, and counted fourth and fifth Giro wins as Danilo Di Luca in 2007 and Ivan Basso in 2010 rode to victory. In 2011, they became a title sponsor under the name Liquigas-Cannondale. They also sponsored UCI Professional Continental team Barloworld in 2007 on the Tour de France and UCI Continental team Bahati Foundation in 2010.
Trek Bicycle Corporation is a major bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Gary Fisher, Bontrager, Kleinand until 2008, LeMond Racing Cycles. With its headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek bicycles are marketed through 1,700 dealers across North America, subsidiaries in Europe and Asia as well as distributors in 90 countries worldwide.Trek's domestic high-end frames are manufactured in Waterloo, Wisconsin with assembly in Whitewater, Wisconsin — with the majority of company's bicycles manufactured in Taiwan and China.
In December, 1975, Richard (Dick) Burke and Bevil Hogg established Trek Bicycle as a wholly owned subsidiary of Roth Corporation, a Milwaukee-based appliance distributor. In early 1976, with a payroll of five, Trek started manufacturing steel touring frames in Waterloo, Wisconsin, taking aim at the mid to high-end market dominated by Japanese and Italian made models. Trek built nearly 900 custom hand-brazed framesets that first year, each selling for just under $200. Later that same year Trek Bicycle was incorporated. In 1977, Penn Cycle became the first Trek dealer in the world. Within three years, Trek sales approached $2,000,000.
Trek becomes a business
Hampered without additional manufacturing capacity, Trek sales plateaued in the late 1970s. In just a few short years Trek had outgrown its original “red barn” manufacturing facility—a former carpet warehouse. Recognizing the need for expansion, in 1980 Trek broke ground on a new 26,000 sq ft (2,400 m2) corporate headquarters on the outskirts of Waterloo. Company co-founder Dick Burke would later recall that “it wasn’t until we built the new factory that we became a business.” With more factory space available, Trek expanded its manufacturing to include complete bikes. In 1982 Trek entered the steel road racing bike market, introducing the 750 and 950 models, and in 1983 Trek built its first mountain bike, the 850. In 1984 Trek ventured into the aftermarket parts and accessories business, launching its Trek Components Group (TCG) department.
The most famous team to use the Trek bikes is Radioshack Nissan Trek Team from USA.
A few riders from each to aim to win overall but there are three further competitions to draw riders of all specialties: points, mountains, and a classification for young riders with general classification aspirations. The oldest of the four classifications is the general classification. The leader of each aforementioned classifications wears a distinctive jersey. If a rider leads more than one classification that awards, he wears the jersey of the most prestigious classification. The abandoned jersey is worn by the rider who is second in the competition -General classification
The most sought after classification in the Giro d'Italia is the general classification. All of the stages are timed to the finish, after finishing the riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times; so the rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race. The leader is determined after each stage's conclusion. The leader of the race also has the privilege to wear the race leader's pink jersey.The jersey is presented to the leader rider on a podium in the stage's finishing town. If a rider is leading more than one classification that awards a jersey, he will wear the maglia rosa since the general classification is the most important one in the race. The lead can change after each stage. The winner of the 2012 Giro d'Italia wasRyder Hesjedal.
The color pink was chosen as the magazine that created the Giro, La Gazzetta dello Sport, printed its newspapers on pink paper. The pink jersey was added to the race in the 1931 edition and it has since become a symbol of the Giro d'Italia. The first rider to wear the pink jersey was Learco Guerra.Each team brings multiple pink jerseys in advance of the Giro in case one of their riders becomes the overall leader of the race. Riders usually try to make the extra effort to keep the jersey for as long as possible in order to get more publicity for the team and the sponsor(s) of the team. Eddy Merckx has worn the pink jersey for 77 stages, which is more than any other rider in the history of the Giro d'Italia.
-Montain classification
The mountains classification is the second oldest jersey awarding classification in the Giro d'Italia. The mountains classification was added to the Giro d'Italia in 1933 Giro d'Italia and was first won by Alfredo Binda. During mountain stages of the race, points are awarded to the rider who is first to reach the top of each significant climb. Points are also awarded for riders who closely follow the leader up each climb. The number of points awarded varies according to the hill classification, which is determined by the steepness and length of that particular hill. The climbers' jersey is worn by the rider who, at the start of each stage, has the largest amount of climbing points. If a rider leads two or more of the categories, the climbers' jersey is worn by the rider in second, or third, place in that contest. At the end of the Giro, the rider holding the most climbing points wins the classification. In fact, some riders, particularly those who are neither sprinters nor particularly good at time-trialing, may attempt only to win this particular competition within the race. The Giro has three categories of mountains. They range from category 4, the easiest, to category 1, the hardest. There is also the Cima Coppi, the highest point reached in a particular Giro, which is worth more points than the race's other first-category climbs.
The classification awarded no jersey to the leader until the 1974 Giro d'Italia.From 1974 to 2011 the green jersey was given to the leader of the mountains classification. In 2012 the jersey color changed from green to blue as the classification's sponsor, Banca Mediolanum, renewed its sponsorship for another four years.Matteo Rabottini won the first blue jersey at the 2012.
-Points classification
The points classification is the third oldest of the four jersey current awarding classifications in the Giro d'Italia. It was introduced in the 1966 Giro d'Italia and was first won by Gianni Motta.] Points are given to the rider who is first to reach the end of, or determined places during, any stage of the Giro. The red jersey is worn by the rider who at the start of each stage, has the largest amount of points. The rider whom at the end of the Giro, holds the most points, wins the points competition. Each stage win, regardless of the stage's categorization, awards 25 points, second place is worth 20 points, third 16, fourth 14, fifth 12, sixth 10, and one point less per place down the line, to a single point for fifteenth. This means that a true sprinter might not always win the points classification.The classification was added to draw the participation of the sprinters. The 2012 winner of the classification was Joaquim Rodríguez.
In addition, stages can have one or more intermediate sprints: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points are awarded to the first three cyclists passing these lines. These points also count toward the TV classification (Traguardo Volante, or "flying sprint"), a separate award.
The first year the points classification was used, it had no jersey that was given to the leader of the classification. In the 1967 Giro d'Italia, the red jersey was added for the leader of the classification. However, in 1969 the red jersey was changed to a cyclamen (purple) colored jersey. It remained that color until 2010 when the organizers chose to change the jersey back to the color red; in a return to the original color scheme for the three minor classifications, which reflected the colors of the Italian flag.
Also like on the Tour de France this race has the White Jersey for the best young rider.
The 2012 Giro d'Italia was the 95th edition of Giro d'Italia. It started in the Danish city of Herning, and ended in Milan. The complete route of the 2012 Giro d'Italia was announced in mid October. For the first time since the 2007 edition no climbing time trial was included in the route. The colour of the jersey for the mountains classification was changed for this year's edition from green to blue. The move came at the behest of sponsor Banca Mediolanum, who renewed its support of the mountains classification for a further four years.
The race was won by Canada's Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin-Barracuda, becoming the first rider from the country to win a Grand Tour event and the second non-European rider to win the Giro (the first being Andrew Hampsten in 1988); he also became only the second rider to take the leader's jersey from another rider on the final day, after Francesco Moser did so in 1984. Hesjedal won the general classification by 16 seconds over runner-up Joaquim Rodríguez of Spain, representing Team Katusha – the closest race-winning margin since Eddy Merckx beat Gianbattista Baronchelli by 12 seconds in the 1974 edition – who also won two stages and the points classification title, edging out Team Sky sprinter Mark Cavendish by one point. Third place was taken by Vacansoleil-DCM's Thomas De Gendt of Belgium, after he put in strong performances on the final two stages of the race; he won the race's queen stage, finishing at the high-point of the itinerary, at the Stelvio Pass and also finished in the top five of the time trial. As such, he gained sufficient time to move up from ninth to third over those stages, becoming the first Belgian rider to take a Grand Tour podium since Johan Bruyneel finished third at the 1995 Vuelta a España.
In the race's other classifications, Team Sky rider Rigoberto Urán of Colombia finished as the best rider aged 25 or under in the general classification, finishing in seventh place overall; the mountains competition was won by Italy's Matteo Rabottini of the Farnese Vini-Selle Italia team, scoring almost double the number of points that his nearest rival in the standings accrued. Rabottini was the only Italian to feature on the podium, as for the first time since 1995, no Italian riders finished in the top three overall, as Lampre-ISD's Michele Scarponi – the defending champion – could only finish fourth overall.
The Giro d'Italia is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1909 to increase the sales for the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport; however it's now currently run by RCS Sport. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1909 except for when it was stopped for the two World Wars. As the Giro gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend around the globe. The peloton expanded from primarily Italian participation to riders from all over the world now participating each year. The Giro is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI Proteams, with the exception of the teams that the organizers can invite.
Along with the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, the Giro makes up cycling's prestigious, three week-long Grand Tours. The Giro is usually held during late May and early June. While the route changes each year, the format of the race stays the same with the appearance of at least two time trials, the passage through the mountain chains of the Dolomites and the Alps, and the finish in the Italian city of Milan. Like the other Grand Tours, the modern editions of the Giro d'Italia normally consist of 21 day-long segments (stages) over a 23-day period that includes 2 rest days.
All of the stages are timed to the finish, after finishing the riders' times are compounded with their previous stage times. The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race and gets to don the coveted pink jersey. While the general classification gathers the most attention there are other contests held within the Giro: the points classification for the sprinters, he mountains classification for the climbers, young rider classification for the riders under the age of 25, and the team classification for the competing teams. The 2012 edition of the race was won by Canada's Ryder Hesjedal; the first Canadian winner in the history of the Giro d'Italia.
The idea and the first race
The origin of the Giro d'Italia is similar to that of the Tour de France. It began because of a competition between two newspapers, La Gazzetta dello Sport andCorriere della Sera. La Gazzetta dello Sport wished to boost its circulation by holding a professional road race, like the Tour de France. Corriere della Sera wanted to increase its circulation by holding an organized car rally. On 7 August 1908 the newspaper's founder Eugenio Camillo Costamagna, director Armando Cougnet, and its editor Tullio Morgagni announced the inaugural Giro d'Italia to be held in 1909. Corriere della Sera offered a winners bonus of 3,000 lire.
On May 13, 1909 at 02:53 am 127 riders started the first Giro d'Italia at Loreto Place in Milan. The race was split into eight stages covering 2,448 km (1,521 mi). A total of 49 riders finished, with Italian Luigi Ganna winning the inaugural event. Ganna won three individual stages and the General Classification. Ganna received 5325 Lira as a winner’s prize, with the last rider in the general classification receiving 300 lira. The Giro's director received only 150 liras a month, 150 liras less than the last placed rider.
Riders aim to win overall but there are three further competitions: points, mountains and for the best young rider. The leader of each wears a distinctive jersey. A rider who leads more than one competition wears the jersey of the most prestigious. The abandoned jersey is worn by the second in the competition. The Tour's colours have been adopted by other races and have meaning within cycling generally.
The yellow jersey (maillot jaune) is worn by the general classification leader. This is decided by totalling the time each rider takes on the daily stages. The rider with the lowest overall time at the end of each stage receives a ceremonial yellow bicycling jersey and the right to start the next stage of the Tour, usually the next day, in the yellow jersey.The rider to receive the yellow jersey after the last stage in Paris, is the overall winner of the Tour.
The very first rider to wear the yellow jersey from start to finish was Ottavio Bottecchia of Italy in 1924.Nicolas Frantz (1928) and Romain Maes (1935) are the only two other riders who have done the same. The first company to pay a daily prize to the wearer of the yellow jersey – known as the "rent" – was a wool company, Sofil, in 1948. The greatest number of riders to wear the yellow jersey in a day is three: Nicolas Frantz, André Leducq and Victor Fontan shared equal time for a day in 1929 and there was no rule to split them.
The riders with most wins:
Jacques Anquetilin1957,1961,1962,1963and1964
Eddy Merckxin1969,1970,1971,1972and1974
Bernard Hinaultin1978,1979,1981,1982and1985
Miguel Indurainin1991,1992,1993,1994and1995(the first to do so in five consecutive years).
In this pool would also be Lance Armstrong but with the ban that he recived, he isn't(resulted with lossing all the titles).
The green jersey (maillot vert) is given to the leader of the points classification. At the end of each stage, points are earned by the riders who finish first, second, etc. More points are given for flat stages and fewer for mountain stages. The points competition began in 1953, to mark the 50th anniversary. It was called the Grand Prix du Cinquentenaire and was won by Fritz Schaer of Switzerland. The first sponsor was La Belle Jardinière. The current sponsor is Pari Mutuel Urbain, a state betting company. Currently, the points classification is calculated by adding up the points collected in the stage and subtracting penalty points. Points are rewarded for a high finishing position in a stage or at an intermediate sprint. One rider has won the points competition six times - Erik Zabel1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001(consecutive years).
The King of the Mountains wears a white jersey with red dots (maillot à pois rouges), inspired by a jersey that one of the organisers, Félix Lévitan, had seen at the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris in his youth. The competition gives points to the first to top designated hills and mountains.
The best climber was first recognised in 1933, prizes were given from 1934, and the jersey was introduced in 1975. The first to wear the mountain jersey was Lucien Van Impe, who earned the honour en route to his third mountains title.
Between 1975 and 1989, and since 2000, there has been a competition for young riders. The rider aged under 26 who places highest in the GC gets to wear a white jersey (maillot blanc).
Since the young rider classification was introduced in 1975, it has been won by 29 different cyclists. Of those, six cyclists also won the general classification during their careers (Fignon, LeMond, Pantani, Ullrich, Contador and Schleck). On four occasions a cyclist has won the young rider classification and the general classification in the same year—Fignon in 1983, Ullrich in 1997, Contador in 2007 and Schleck in 2010.
And at the end one of the most famous wins on the tour.
