Pirelli and Trek-Segafredo - working together for innovation

All thanks to an agreement between Pirelli and the Trek-Segafredo World Tour cycling team. The new partnership presents Pirelli with an extraordinary opportunity for innovation given the fact that Trek, one of the world's top five bicycle makers, is also offering technical and direct support to the team: this is one of the few factory teams on the World Tour, the power of which comes from within. By working in close contact with Trek-Segafredo, Pirelli will be able to drive its technical and product development to a higher level through the unceasing quest for innovation and perfection that has always distinguished the brand.

The agreement also raises the bar in sports competitiveness, since racing for the team will be stars of the calibre of Mads Pedersen, the reigning world champion, Bauke Mollema, Richie Porte and above all Vincenzo Nibali, the Shark, one of the most successful cyclists of all time with a trophy cupboard that includes two victories in the Giro d'Italia, one in the Tour de France, one in the Vuelta d'España, two in Il Lombardia and one in the Milano-Sanremo.

As well as Trek-Segafredo, since last year Pirelli has also supplied the tyres to another top team, Mitchelton Scott. Both teams are taking part in the women's competitions where the riders will include Italy's Letizia Paternoster for Trek-Segafredo and, for Mitchelton Scott, Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands, last year's Road Race World Champion. She and Pedersen will be racing throughout 2020 in the rainbow jersey.

The Pirelli-branded products will guarantee cyclists the best possible roadholding and speed when hurtling downhill at over a hundred kilometres an hour, will sustain them on climbs with gradients of up to 20-22%, and will give the bikes maximum grip on difficult surfaces like pavé.

A passion for the future will be the binding factor for Pirelli and Trek-Segafredo, which for years has been performing an extraordinary youth development and talent-scouting role. The team thus includes Giulio Ciccone, the winner last year of an epic stage of the Giro after tackling the Mortirolo Pass alone and in torrential rain, who is regarded as one of the most promising future climbers on the World Tour. And it also boasts other youngsters with a brilliant future such as Quin Simmons, the youngest rider on the circuit and regarded by all as a real phenomenon. 

Following the agreement with Trek-Segafredo the World Tour will thus have a dual value for Pirelli: a living laboratory in which to improve its compounds, reinforcements and products, and a worldwide sporting showcase. A return to its origins for Pirelli, which supplied nearly all bicycles with tyres in the years when Coppi and Bartali performed their exploits on the roads of Italy and France.

The decision to rapidly seal two partnerships with two top men's and women's cycling teams also demonstrates Pirelli's strong focus on sustainable mobility, of which the bicycle has always been an iconic symbol. The company's re-entry into the cycling élite has come naturally, being the world number one Auto Components manufacturer in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices 2019.

The innovations that will be achieved alongside the Trek group will also benefit amateur riders, in view of the fact that the range developed for the World Tour will subsequently be available to all: by regulation all products used to race in cycling competitions must also be marketed with exactly the same specifications, which is why in 2021 everyone will be able to fit their bikes with the same tyres as Vincenzo Nibali and to dream - just for a moment - that they are the Shark himself.