Giro d’Italia winner rode a bike made by Toronto-based company Cervélo SA
Last weekend, Ryder Hesjedal won the Giro d’Italia road cycling race, and he rode a Toronto brand’s bicycle to win it. Cervélo’s P5 (seen above) isn’t the company’s first high-performance product, nor is this the brand’s first instance of media recognition—it was in the spotlight in 2003 for sponsoring Team CSC, a Dutch outfit that rivaled superstar Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France (and, subsequently, members of Cervélo-affiliated Team CSC were accused of doping, so there’s that press to remember as well). This particular model seems impractical for city coasting, but should you want to travel around Europe racing in unforgiving lycra/spandex outfits, or become a regular at your local velodrome, then it could be the bike for you. $4,500–$6,000.
Duke’s Cycle, 625 Queen St. W., 416-504-6138
Correction: This is a road racing bike, and it should not be used in a velodrome.
Fail… This is a TT bike so not meant for traveling around Europe nor for the velodrome.
Fail x two – Cervelo was purchased in early 2012 by Dutch cycling company Pon Holdings bv, so they are no longer a Canadian company. Some roots may be here, but that is about it. http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/news-blog/article/cervelo-joins-pon-bicycle-group/2970/
@Mark…
I’m pretty sure they still do the most of the engineering and all of the assembling in the west end.
Thank you, TL, for posting the correction. I almost went out and bought this bike and rode it in a velodrome. That would have been fatal.
Cervelo’s head office, design and engineering is still based in Toronto and will continue to be based in Toronto. The purchase by Pon was to inject capital into the business – allowing for Cervelo to expand and meet the market demand for their bikes.
Why do much hate!
Might be a good idea to have someone familiar with cycling to write the article or at least read it over. Glad to see the attention that Ryder’s victory has brought to cycling in Canada though.