FLORENCE – Colnago has chosen the elegant Sala dei Gigli, one of the most beautiful rooms of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, to present the official bike of the next Tour de France. It’s about the Colnago Fleur-de-Lys, a special edition of the C68 made in 111 numbered examples, in homage to the 111 editions of the French stage race.
The choice of the Tuscan capital as the venue for the presentation, as well as the name of the bike, are not at all random. Florence will host the start of the Tour de France on June 29th which for the first time in its over one hundred year history will depart from Italy. The lily, fleur-de-lys in French, is the heraldic emblem which had a very important role in the history of Florence and France itself.
To act as “masters of the house”, Nicola Rosin And Manolo BertocchiCEO and Head of Marketing of Colnago respectively, who together raised the veil on the Fleur-de-Lys.
The beauty in evidence
«Colnago is synonymous with beautiful bikes that win races. This time we wanted to focus on the beautiful.” These were the words with which Manolo Bertocchi wanted to present the Fleur-de-Lys project, which arrived in a very important year in the history of the brand, which celebrates its “first” 70 years in 2024.
So let’s discover something more about the Colnago Fleur-de-Lys.
As anticipated, this is a special edition of one of Colnago’s most famous models, the C68. The lily distinguishes the bicycle not only by its name, but is reproduced in series on the gold horizontal tube on a field of Bleu de France colored metallic leaf. The leaf finish is applied by hand each timewith the result that the texture changes from one frame to another, making each example of the 111 made simply unique.
Homage to the Tour
The Colnago Fleur-de-Lys is a continuous homage to the Tour de France, starting from the bottle cage, modeled and printed in 3D, which takes the shape of the Tour trophy. Always remaining on the subject of components, the bike features a special limited edition Colnago CC.01 handlebarwhich has an engraving on the head tube cap that recalls the iconic Tour de France logo. On the tip of the fork you can appreciate the Colnago x TdF logo, as well as the indication of the bike’s serial number, from 0 to 111confirming that we are dealing with a limited edition.
To give further value to the Fleur-de-Lys the presence of various special components, created in collaboration with some technical partners with whom Colnago collaborates most. It’s about Prologue, Hello, Carbon-Ti, MyLime And CeramicSpeed.
Baptized by Pogacar
The Colnago Fleur-de-Lys will be symbolically christened by Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian champion will pedal with the Fleur-de-Lys number 1 during the presentation of the teams who will participate in the Tour de France scheduled for June 27th. The parade of the teams will start from Palazzo Vecchio, seat of the Municipality of Florence, and then reach Piazzale Michelangelo.
For those who wish, there will be the opportunity to preview the Colnago Fleur-de-Lys at the following two events also scheduled in Florence: Pitti Immagine Uomo, from 11 to 14 June, and Becycle from 26 to 28 June.
We close with a curiosity. While the presentation press conference was being held, Nicola Rosin received the news that 110 Colnago Fleur-de-Lys had already sold out. There is still one left… number 1, the one that Pogacar will use for the presentation of the teams.
It will in fact be auctioned by Sotheby’s during the Tour. The auction will begin on the first day of rest and will end a week later on the second day of rest.
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